Parish Church Of St Mary

The parish church of St Mary is located in Podington. The church is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with some Northants ironstone. It dates to the 13th century, although elements are earlier and later. The building comprises a chancel, a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch and a west tower with a spire. The Norman chancel was heightened in the 15th century and had a parapet added. Its windows are mainly from the 13th century, though the east window was restored in the 19th century. The angles of the aisleless nave are visible. A south aisle was added in the late 12th or early 13th century, featuring early stiff leaf capitals to the arcade. The windows in this aisle are in a 14th-century style and were added in the 19th century. A south porch is also a 19th-century addition. The north aisle was added later in the 13th century, displaying nailhead ornament to the arcade, and has 14th-century windows. Both aisles have 20th-century ironstone buttresses. The clerestory windows are late 14th century. The lower two stages of the tower date to the 13th century, the upper stage to the 14th century, and the crocketed spire to the 15th century; only the bases of the pinnacles survive. Inside the church, along the north wall of the chancel are four arches that appear to be blocked tomb recesses. The two inner recesses have stops in the form of human heads, and the outer recesses have finial decoration. There is a 13th-century piscina. Several monuments are present, including a monument to Mrs Diana Orlebar (1716) by John Hunt, featuring two crying putti and an open scroll pediment; a monument to Richard Orlebar (1803) by Lewis of Cheltenham, depicting a female figure kneeling by a sarcophagus; and a monument to Richard Orlebar (1833) by Humphrey Hopper. The nave has a 15th-century roof with grotesques and heads of kings and queens decorating the corbels. A Norman font with chevron decoration is also present.