Church Of St Edith

The Church of St Edith is a building of group value, dating to the 12th century with significant additions and alterations in the 13th and 15th centuries, and a restoration in 1868. It is constructed of stone rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a plain-tile roof with decorative fleur-de-lys ridge tiles and a finial in the shape of a cross. A pyramid tile roof covers the tower.

The church’s plan includes an integral chancel and nave, a projecting south porch, and a south tower. The nave floor gently rises from west to east. The chancel and nave have three lancet windows on the east wall, inserted during the 1868 restoration. The north wall features three buttresses with ashlar coping, followed by a flat-headed window with four-light cusped lancet tracery, a pointed window with cusped intersecting tracery to the left, and then two round-headed lancets flanking a plain arched doorway which has been altered into a window. The south wall is dominated by the tower, with a two-light cusped window to the right and two round-headed lancets flanking a segmental arched doorway to the left. The west gable-end has a cinquefoil roundel above a Tudor-arched window with cusped lancet tracery.

The three-stage tower has a battered plinth, an arched doorway on the south side, a round-headed lancet window at the middle stage, and round-headed openings on each face of the upper stage with a central column supporting two smaller round-headed arches, with string courses above and below. A crenellated parapet tops the tower, finishing with a pinnacle on each merlon. The south porch has stone side walls with opposing three-light windows and a heavy tie beam roof with decorative infill and a single swept purlin.

Inside, the unplastered walls have raised ribbon pointing. The chancel has a two-bay roof with a low-pitched timber ceiling consisting of three trusses with moulded cranked tie beams and bridging beams with moulded joists, some featuring carved bosses. Armorial paintings adorn the west chancel roof truss. The nave has a six-bay roof of arch-braced collar trusses, some with deep swept tie beams and figurative carved bosses. Trenched purlins run along the roof, with intermediate principals linking the top and bottom purlins.

A dated 1670 pulpit with canopy and desk, featuring carved brackets, stands within the chancel, along with a tomb recess with a cinquefoiled canopy and ball-flower ornament. This recess houses a 14th-century wooden male effigy, believed to be the Lord of the Manor. A simple bowl font has an elaborately carved 19th-century wood cover suspended on chains. Oval stone tablets are set into the floor of the nave. The tower roof has a chamfered tie beam with a central post. The medieval bell-frame is timber-framed and features diagonal braced cross frames and lapped horizontal braces.