Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church with origins dating back to the 13th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 14th, 15th, and early 16th centuries. It was restored in 1889 by Somers Clarke and J T Micklethwaite. The church is constructed of a mixture of cobblestones and ironstone, with ashlar dressings. The building features a mixture of plain and embattled parapets and includes a chancel, a south chapel, a nave, a north transept, a north aisle, a south aisle, a north porch, and a west tower.

The chancel has 13th-century origins, reworked in the 15th century, and contains a 19th-century pointed-arched three-light east window. The north elevation features a square-headed three-light window to the east and a four-centred headed two-light window to the west, both dating to the 15th century. A four-centred arched doorway is located between these windows, surmounted by a small 13th-century lancet window. A single light is situated immediately west of the north-west window. Below the north-east window is a piscina, originally serving a north-east vestry. A 16th-century two-bay south arcade provides access to the south chapel, which itself dates to the 16th century and includes two south windows and one east window, all of three lights under four-centred heads. A 19th-century four-centred south doorway is also present.

The nave, with 13th-century origins, is largely 14th-century. It contains five 14th-century arcades on each side; the south arcade being the earlier, with compound piers, while the north arcade features octagonal columns. A clerestory with five square-headed two-light windows (except for one south-east window of three lights) is located on each side. The north transept, also of 13th-century origin, has a 15th-century three-light four-centred arched window on its east elevation, alongside a small window to the southeast, inserted to light a rood stair. A 19th-century three-light window is on the north elevation. The north aisle, 14th-century with 15th-century reworking, has four-centred arched 15th-century windows: the west window has three lights, the north-west window has four lights, and the other north windows have two lights. A 14th-century north doorway is also present. The south aisle, similarly 14th-century with 15th-century reworking, has one west window and three south windows, all 15th-century and of three lights under four-centred heads.

The north porch is 15th-century, with a parvis above, accessed by stairs at the southeast angle. The lower stage features four-centred arches to the west and north. The parvis is lit by two-light square-headed windows to the west and north. The four-stage west tower, also 15th-century, has a semi-circular stair turret projecting from the northeast angle. The west elevation contains a 19th-century pointed-arched doorway to the ground stage and a three-light four-centred arched window to the second stage. The bell stage has pointed-arched two-light windows on all sides.

The interior is relatively plain, with 19th-century pewing. The roofs were repaired in the 19th century but retain much of the original moulded timbering: the south aisle roof is 14th-century, while the remaining roofs are 15th and 16th-century. A circular font of uncertain date is also present. The east wall of the porch retains indents of brasswork commemorating a priest, with the central indent in the shape of a chalice.