Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, with significant alterations made in 1861 by E Browning. It is constructed of coursed ironstone rubble and cobbles, with ashlar dressings, the tower being entirely of ashlar. The church comprises a chancel, a north vestry, a nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a west tower. It has embattled parapets to the nave and tower, with plain parapets elsewhere.

The chancel, dating to the 14th century, features a five-light pointed east window with net tracery. The north and south walls each contain a 2-light pointed window from the 19th century to the east and a two-light square-headed window from the 15th century to the west. The south wall includes a 16th-century priest’s door. A pointed chancel arch is of 14th-century origin. The north vestry, added in the 19th century, has a two-light square-headed east window.

The nave, dating to the 14th century, was reworked in the 15th century and features four-bay pointed-arched arcades on both sides – the north one being 15th century and the south one 14th century. A 15th-century clerestory has two-light windows with four-centred heads. A 14th-century tower arch is also present. The north aisle, dating to the 15th century, has three windows to the north and one to the east, all of three lights with pointed heads. A 15th-century north doorway is blocked, with the remains of a pointed arch indicating a previous window. The south aisle contains a four-light pointed-arched east window with flowing tracery, two three-light windows to the south, and a pointed-arched window to the west with net tracery; a 15th-century three-light window with a four-centred head is also present.

The 14th-century south porch has a parvis added in the 15th century, accessible by a spiral staircase projecting from the northwest angle and opening onto the south aisle, with 19th-century single lights to the west and east of the ground stage. A pointed archway provides entrance, with a two-light window on the south side of the parvis. The west tower was rebuilt in the 19th century in a 14th-century style, with three stages and angle buttresses. A staircase projects from the northeast angle, and a three-light window is present on the west side of the ground stage, with two-light windows to the bell stage.

Internally, the roofs are largely 19th-century, except for the south aisle roof, which retains 15th-century moulded tie beams, pierced spandrels, and carved stops. The chancel features a hammerbeam roof with carved angles to the hammerbeams. A 14th-century octagonal font has two cinquefoiled panels to each side. Fragments of medieval glass are retained in the east window of the south aisle. The chancel contains a 14th-century cinquefoiled piscina and sedilia. An image bracket with a carved human head is located at the east end of the south aisle.