Church Of St Mary (Including Ruined Walls)

The Church of St Mary incorporates the remains of a Benedictine nunnery and dates to the late 12th century, with significant additions from 1236-1238. The nave was rebuilt in 1876 by Clapton Rolfe, the chancel in 1906, and the north transept in 1929-1931 by Sir Harold Brakespear. The church is constructed of sandstone rubble with limestone ashlar dressings, some brick, and slate roofs with coped gable parapets.

It comprises a chancel, nave, and north transept, exhibiting Romanesque style in the nave, and Early English style in the chancel and transept. The chancel is four bays long, as is the nave. Splayed and moulded plinths are present. The chancel and transept have geometrical tracery and moulded cornices. The chancel features buttresses on all sides, including subsidiary buttresses below the five-light east window, and a gable parapet with a cross finial. Two-light windows are set into the north and south sides. A rood loft stair projection on the south side rises into a short octagonal turret. The south wall of the crossing is brick and contains two plain arched windows. The north transept has angle and west buttresses, and a datestone from 1929 appears in the east wall. A three-light south east window is present, along with a large bricked-up arch leading to a planned east chapel, and a large four-light north window. The south west doorway consists of three moulded orders, one with nook-shafts, with a double-leaf door that slightly projects. The springing for a vault and a proposed porch is visible. A three-light north west window is also present, with hood moulds throughout.

The nave occupies four of the original six bays. Pilaster buttresses and a corbel table are visible. Moulded windows with nook shafts are located high up. The west front is of plain brick, with a small porch containing a segmental-arched casement and a plank door on its return side. A small round window is high up, and a small timber bellcote is present. Low walls from the fifth and sixth bays remain as ruins.

Inside, the chancel displays Early English style arcading, with two bays to the left and right of the reredos, blind to the north, and forming a piscina and sedilia to the south. Trefoil panelling sits below the windows. The four-bay hammer beam roof incorporates wall shafts and corbels, along with a shaft between the second and third bays. The crossing retains remains of massive compound piers and responds of four orders of detached and attached shafts. An Early English east pier and much restored chancel arch exist, alongside a C12 west pier; the southern pier has two original capitals. The nave contains triple wall shafts between bays, and blind arcading of intersecting arches in all but the western bay. Windows feature triple rere arches with paired shafts and wall passages. The transept includes a bricked-up arch of two orders to the planned chapel, with wall shafts and arches, along with springing for unexecuted vaulting. A scissor-braced roof is also present.

Fittings include a traceried oak rood screen and rood, dated 1921; a traceried octagonal font; and a C20 reredos. The ground beneath the church is a scheduled Ancient Monument.