Old Church Of St Mary

The Old Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed former mortuary chapel that now stands redundant, incorporating remains of a medieval parish church. It has late medieval origins, with the tower being reworked in 1830 by Edward Blore. The rest of the church was demolished, and the mortuary chapel was constructed between 1865 and 1868 for William, the 8th Duke of Bedford, with at least some of this later work attributed to Henry Clutton. The building is made of coursed ironstone with ashlar dressings and features leaded roofs.

The structure has a north tower linked by a low block on the south side to the mortuary chapel, forming an L-plan. It is designed in the Perpendicular style, showcasing a variety of tracery in its windows. The tower consists of four stages, each slightly set back from the one below. The ground stage retains medieval stonework, while diagonal buttresses are topped with tall crocketed pinnacles and an embattled parapet. The ground stage features 19th-century segmental arches on the west and east sides, creating an entrance porch. The second stage has a single light on the west elevation, and the bell-stage includes pointed-arched, two-light louvred openings on each side. The tower is topped with an octagonal pierced stone lantern, small flying buttresses, crocketed pinnacles, and a crocketed concave conical roof.

The link block has a plain parapet and three-light square-headed mullioned windows on the west and east sides. The chapel itself is a simple three-bay structure with three-light, four-centred-arched windows on the north and south elevations. The west end features two two-light windows and a quatrefoil at attic level, while the east window is a five-light design with a plain parapet.

Inside, the chapel has a three-bay oak roof with moulded timbers and carved stone corbels displaying a variety of heads. The north wall holds a marble monument from the earlier church dedicated to Sir Francis Staunton and his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1630. This monument features two relief panels depicting the couple and their children kneeling beside a prayer desk, topped with a broken pediment and cartouche. The east window contains stained glass that includes the Bedford family arms, surrounded by the Garter and topped with a coronet, along with figures of the Evangelists and Moses and Aaron.