Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, with later alterations including a major restoration of 1892 by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The building is constructed of sandstone, mainly ashlar, with the 12th-century work finely coursed and dressed. The roof comprises red tiles to the nave and chancel, with lead flat roofs to the aisles behind parapets.

The church comprises a tower with spire, nave, aisles set eastwards and well down the line of the nave, and chancel.

The tower is of three stages with strings at each stage and angle buttresses of three stages, gabletted to the bottom stage. It features a crenellated parapet with gargoyles at the angles and a stone spire added in 1892. The bell chamber has deeply set labelled pointed openings with Y-tracery and louvres; the west window is similar but narrower.

The south side of the nave exposes two bays divided by two-stage buttresses. A three-light pointed Decorated window with reticulated tracery is set to the right; to the left is a slight break with a round-arched 12th-century doorway and three Decorated bands of roll and zig-zag moulding. A later extrados band features double pilasters with scalloped capitals and boarded doors. The north side of the nave exposes one bay with an unusual window of 17th-century appearance containing three trefoil-headed lights and a criss-cross panel above with trefoils within panels under a flat head.

The south aisle dates from 1892. It comprises three bays divided by two-stage buttresses, with a larger bay to the east. All bays except the east bay contain labelled two-light pointed windows with reticulated tracery; the east bay contains a small pointed Priest's door.

The north aisle comprises four bays divided by two-stage buttresses. Small 19th-century pointed windows with two lights are set to the inner sides, with a three-light pointed window to the right and a three-light window with geometric tracery to the east end. A pent porch is set to the north-west side of the aisle, with small two-light pointed windows to its sides and a labelled pointed arch to the boarded door.

The chancel is longer than the nave and part-screened by the aisles for approximately two bays. It features three-light pointed east windows and a three-light cinquefoil-headed window to the north.

The interior contains a two-bay nave with pointed arcades on both sides resting on octagonal columns. The tower and chancel arches are simple and pointed. The nave roof spans four bays with collar and arched braces with cusped screens; curved wind braces run to the purlin and ridge. A two-bay scissor truss spans the chancel, with a cambered tie to the north aisle.

The church contains two pulpits: an octagonal fretted oak pulpit on a stone base, and a 19th-century octagonal stone pulpit with quatrefoil panelled sides at the west end. The font is octagonal stone with a boarded cover close to the rim. A wooden screen divides the tower. The chancel contains stained glass by Kempe.

Monuments include a recumbent figure of Bishop Sherburne of Chichester, dated 1536, reset in the north wall of the chancel with the torso divided by a cartouche block. In the sanctuary is a monument to Thomas Caldwell, died 1554, with circa 1600 stone kneeling figures of a lady and gentleman flanking a central figure, all within a corbelled portico with a decorated frieze, coat-of-arms, cartouche and arrow at the base. The south aisle contains an aedicular stone monument to Sir Edward Mosley, died 1638, with four black columns surrounding a reclining figure on a chest supporting a frieze canopy with coat-of-arms and cartouche to the centre flanked by figures; obelisks at the angles and strapwork in low relief decorate the back-panel, with the canopy ceiling embossed with fleurons. A Wilman memorial from 1692 features architraves and a coat-of-arms in a cartouche apron below. Additional plaques in the south aisle commemorate Oswald Mosley (1789), John Peploe Mosley (1834), Sir Oswald Mosley (1871, Gothic style), Sir Thomas Mosley (1890, Gothic style), and Sir Oswald Mosley (1915, Neo-Classical style). An inscribed plaque of a knight and lady is set into the north side of the arch into the vestry.