Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating back to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations made around 1300 and in the 18th century, followed by restoration work in 1839 and 1888, the latter led by Ewan Christian. The building is constructed of sandstone rubble with some tufa, and features a tile roof.

The church comprises a chancel and nave dating from around 1300, an 18th-century west tower, a north aisle, a north porch, and an organ chamber all added in 1888. The west tower stands on a battered plinth, with two plain string courses and a crenellated parapet, potentially added during the 1888 restoration. It has a 19th-century west door on the ground floor, lancet windows on the first floor, and an enlarged circular clock recess on the west side. The second stage features two semi-circular-headed windows on each side, each being enlarged oculi.

The south wall of the nave exhibits three windows; the two easternmost were restored in the late 19th century in a 13th-century style, with two 2-centred-headed lights. The western window is a late 19th-century design with two trefoiled lights under a square head, set above a blocked segmental-headed doorway. Plain buttresses and a moulded wall-plate from the early 16th century are also present. The north aisle, dating from 1888, incorporates a timber north porch with three and two-trefoiled lights, and a gabled organ chamber with a Decorated-style window of two ogee trefoiled lights.

The chancel’s south wall houses two restored 13th-century lancets. A low, blocked priest's door with a flat lintel is situated between the windows, and an east wall rebuilt in the 19th century features a Decorated-style window of three ogee trefoiled lights under a 2-centred head with a label. The north wall has a restored Decorated window of two ogee trefoiled lights under a 2-centred head.

Inside, the chancel contains a 12th-century recess in the north wall with tufa dressings and a semi-circular head, likely reset. The splays of the east window on the south wall may also be 12th-century. A 2-centred arch leads to the organ chamber in the north wall. A three-bay timber arcade connects to the north aisle, built in 1888, while the chancel is divided from the nave by an arch braced tie-beam with tracery spandrels, close-studding above, and a late 19th-century wooden screen. The tower arch is 19th-century, with a two-centred head and an early 20th-century wooden partition as an infill. The roofs throughout are early 16th century; the chancel roof has four bays with arch braced collar beams and moulded tie-beams to the central and west trusses. The nave has a common rafter roof, with arch braced collars, formerly ceiled, with two moulded tie-beams and a moulded wall-plate. A likely 14th-century octagonal font bowl sits atop a 19th-century stem. A late 13th-century wooden effigy of a recumbent priest is located within the chancel recess. Two neo-classical wall monuments commemorate Thomas Stallard Penoyre (died 1821), by Reeves & Son of Bath, and Francis Rigby Broadbelt Stallard Penoyre (died 1827), by Bacon of London.