Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a church dating back to the 12th century, largely rebuilt around 1316, with a turret likely from the 16th or 17th century. It was restored in 1850. The church is constructed of limestone and lias rubble, with irregular coursed stone. It has old tile roofs and a weatherboarded turret topped with a pyramid shingle roof.

The building consists of a nave and chancel without structural division, a west bell turret, and a south porch. The four bays are characterised by a south doorway from around 1316, featuring a chamfered two-centred arch and an ancient ribbed door with a lattice-framed back. A lias and weatherboard porch dates from around 1850. The chancel has low clasping buttresses and a 19th-century three-light east window. The north wall includes a two-light square-headed window with 14th-century jambs and a 16th- or 17th-century head; a 13th-century lancet window; a trefoiled lancet from around 1316; and a 19th-century window replacing a doorway. The south wall has a two-light Decorated window, a small blocked priests’ door retaining an old ribbed door, an oak-framed two-light window with cusped Y-tracery (likely a 16th-century replacement of an earlier stone window), and a 19th-century two-light window. The west end features low diagonal buttresses and a half-gable with a bell turret where the apex once stood. A 19th-century two-light window is also present.

Inside, the chancel is divided from the nave by a screen. A 19th-century queen strut roof tops the nave, and two sedilia in the south window recess feature shafts with moulded capitals and bases, stilted arches, and hood moulds. The nave has a 15th-century wagon roof with a slightly higher ridge and two molded tie beams. The framing supporting the turret incorporates a massive tie beam on jowled posts and braces, with 19th-century reinforcing of curved braces creating an arch; struts are also present. The font, possibly from around 1316 but largely re-cut, has a cup bowl on a later cylindrical stem. It is topped with a board and batten lid, featuring original staples and an iron rod fastening, probably dating from the early 17th century. Other furnishings include a mid-19th century pulpit, screen, and pews, as well as an 18th-century three-tier brass chandelier. Stained glass is found in the chancel south window (early 14th century) and the east window (mid-19th century, by O’Connor), with other windows by Charles Gibbs. A late 19th-century north chancel window bears the mark of Keape and Tower. A late 15th-century alabaster carving depicting ‘The Presentation of the Virgin’ is set into the north wall of the nave.