Church Of St Mary And All Saints

Church of St Mary and All Saints

A parish church with 12th-century origins, substantially developed through the medieval period and significantly altered in the 17th and 19th centuries.

The building comprises an irregular nave and chancel, a south aisle and chapel, a south porch, and a west tower. The 12th-century tower and south arcade are the oldest surviving elements, followed by an early 13th-century chancel and an early 14th-century south aisle. The upper part of the tower dates to 1622, whilst the north wall was rebuilt and a vault chamber added in 1869. The church underwent restoration in 1883 and again in 1892.

The fabric is constructed principally of coursed lias, with lias rubble for the aisle and tower upper sections. The upper part of the tower features oolite dressings. Tile roofs throughout.

The south elevation presents a prominent arched doorway with chamfered jambs, fitted with double-leaf doors bearing decorative ironwork, set within an open porch of 19th-century date. The lias ashlar and timber work is prominent here. The chancel contains two east buttresses. A 19th-century three-light Decorated east window lights the chancel interior. To the south, two-light Decorated windows with trefoiled ogee lights and quatrefoils, complete with hood moulds, pierce the aisle; a trefoiled lancet occupies the western corner. A 19th-century west lancet also appears in this wall. Diagonal buttresses stand between the chancel and nave, and again along the aisle south wall, with a single south buttress to the aisle itself. The blank east wall of the aisle is notable.

The north side displays a blocked doorway and the remains of a late 12th-century two-bay arcade serving a now-demolished north chapel. This arcade features a round pillar with simple capital, supporting two two-centred arches of two chamfered orders; the east respond carries a leaf capital. A two-light window accompanies this feature. A gabled vault chamber of 19th-century construction occupies the centre of the north wall, buttressed diagonally and lit by a three-light window with elaborately crocketed ogee tracery, hood mould and head stops.

The tower is of two stages. Stones below its south parapet are inscribed with the names of the churchwarden and workmen and dated 1622. Diagonal buttresses appear to the west. The lower stage retains a 14th-century west window of two trefoiled ogee lights and quatrefoil. Plain round-arched bell openings pierce the upper stage. A 19th-century crenellated parapet with string course crowns the tower.

Internally, the chancel roof is particularly fine, constructed in the 15th century with curved braces, coupled rafters and a central rib between collars. A rere-arch appears to the south-western lancet. No chancel arch intervenes between chancel and nave. A south transeptal arch carries 13th-century half-round shafts with moulded capitals; the arch and east respond are 19th-century work.

The nave features a simple late 12th-century three-bay south arcade of square piers with chamfered angles and imposts, supporting single-chamfered two-centred arches. An arch to the north admits entry to the vault chamber. The nave roof is open timber, incorporating 16th-century moulded tie beams with braced collars and central rib. A ceiling of 18th-century pew panels appears below. The tower arch retains plastered jambs and remains of a 12th-century arch.

The aisle windows have rere-arches. The aisle roof is arched and braced, with collars and four tie beams, the easternmost moulded.

Fittings include a probable 12th-century font in the aisle, featuring a tapering cylindrical bowl and moulded base. Jacobean panelling, possibly from pews, lines the chancel. The datestones below the tower's south parapet are said to record the names of Richard Skukar, Churchwarden, and the workmen Henry Lane, Henry Hemminge, William Vaughan and John Tompkins.

The roof structure throughout contains re-used 15th and 16th-century work, notable for moulded tie beams and arched braces.