Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a parish church with origins dating back to the 12th century, significantly altered and extended in the 13th and 14th centuries, and reworked in the 15th century. Further alterations occurred in the 19th century, including much of the window tracery. The church is constructed of coursed rubble, partially clunch and partially ironstone, with ashlar dressings. It comprises a chancel, a north vestry, a nave, a north aisle, a south aisle, a south porch, and a west tower. Embattled parapets feature on all parts of the church, except for the north aisle.

The chancel has 12th-century origins, largely rebuilt in the 15th century. It has a three-light east window with a two-centred head, a two-light southeast window under a square head (likely 19th century), a single-light southwest window, and a south doorway with a four-centred head. A northeast window is blocked by the vestry. The chancel arch is four-centred. The north vestry is a 19th-century addition, featuring a door to the east and a three-light, flat-headed north window.

The nave’s origins are 12th century, extended in the late 13th century. A late 13th-century north arcade originally consisted of four bays, with part of the west bay later replaced by a buttress to the west tower. The south arcade is late 13th century (two bays) extended westwards in the late 15th century. A late 15th-century clerestory features three windows to the south and two to the north, all of two lights. The clerestory windows now open onto the aisles, as a result of the aisle’s raising in the 19th century. The north aisle, of late 13th-century origin, was rebuilt in the 15th century. The east window now looks onto the vestry. Two tall, pointed-arched, three-light windows to the eastern bays are 19th-century replacements. The western bay has a two-light, flat-headed window, potentially a reused element.

The south aisle dates to the 14th century, extended westwards in the late 15th century. It has a three-light, pointed-headed, 15th-century east window, and two 19th-century, three-light windows designed in the 15th style. A single light appears to the west. The south porch is a late 19th-century addition, rendered with small single lights to the sides and a pointed archway.

The west tower is 15th century, built of three stages with stepped angle buttresses. A stair turret rises above the parapet to the southwest corner. The bell stage features pairs of pointed-arched, two-light windows on each side, while the middle stage has small single lights. The ground stage’s west elevation has a two-centred arched doorway in a square surround, surmounted by a three-light window with a four-centred head.

The interior contains 19th-century roofs and a font. A 12th-century pillar piscina is located in the south aisle. A valuable collection of late 17th and 16th-century marble wall monuments is present, including one dedicated to George Edwards (died 1712) and another to Christopher Hallely (died 1688).