Parish Church Of St Mary

Parish Church of St Mary

This is a parish church of mixed medieval date with significant later additions and restorations. The building incorporates 12th-century carved stones reused in the south aisle, a mid-13th-century nave with three bays of south arcade, and both north and south aisles completed in the early to mid-14th century. The west tower dates to around 1400, while the clerestorey and rebuilt chancel belong to the 15th century. A south porch was added around 1500 and a vestry in the 16th century. The spire was reconstructed in the 17th century and rebuilt again in 1972. The church underwent major restorations in 1856 and 1875 (marked by a dated rain-water head) and again in 1960 and 1972.

The exterior walls are constructed of flint and pebble rubble with clunch and limestone dressings and rough limestone ashlar. The roofs are tiled and slated, with a lead-covered spire.

The south elevation displays a west tower of three stages with a moulded plinth and embattled parapet with pinnacles at the angles. The tower is surmounted by an octagonal spire. The middle stage features a clock face dated 1749. The belfry contains a pair of transomed cinquefoiled-light windows with a quatrefoil in a two-centred arch, complete with label and carved head stops. An embattled clerestorey tops the south aisle. The south porch and an octagonal stair turret to the rood screen and chancel are also visible from this elevation. Five clerestorey windows, each of two cinquefoil lights with a quatrefoil in a four-centred arch and moulded label, light the interior. The south aisle contains two three-light and one four-light cinquefoiled windows in four-centred arches. The south doorway features a moulded jamb and two-centred head with square moulded label and quatrefoils in panelled spandrels. The south porch itself has a two-centred archway of two orders with an inner order carried on attached shafts with moulded caps and bases, a square moulded label, and pierced tracery in the spandrels. The chancel displays gabled heads to its buttresses and three windows of three cinquefoiled lights in four-centred arches. The south doorway of the chancel has a four-centred head and jambs of two hollow chamfered orders.

The interior reveals nave arcades of six bays on each side. The north arcade features quatrefoil piers with moulded caps and bases and two-centred arches. The four eastern bays are early 14th-century with two wave-moulded orders, while the two later 14th-century bays have double ogee-moulded orders. The south arcade comprises three similar western bays matching the north arcade and three mid-13th-century eastern bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with octagonal piers and moulded caps and bases; two capitals retain nail head ornament. The chancel arch is early 14th-century with a two-centred arch of two moulded orders and semi-trefoiled responds. An early 16th-century door to the vestry features moulded jambs and a four-centred head. The tower arch is two-centred with moulded orders to the nave and a semi-circular shafted inner order with moulded caps and bases.

The font is a notably large 12th-century piece with a round bowl of tapered sides and moulded top and bottom, featuring a central pillar and four small columns. The chancel contains a 15th-century piscina with cinquefoil inner square and square outer head; the south aisle holds a rectangular recess piscina with moulded jambs, possibly 14th-century. The chancel screen is early 14th-century with two enclosures each containing doors and linked by arches; it includes some 17th-century panelling and 19th-century restoration with painted figures and a Latin inscription. A late 15th-century tower arch screen divides the space into three bays with a central door.

Inscriptions dating to the 16th and 17th centuries appear on the north jamb of the east vestry window. Monuments in the north aisle include a clunch slab with cornice and two shields with inscription to William Hay, Lord of the Manor, who died in 1617. Floor slabs commemorate Margaret and Henry Wayle (died 1695 and 1717 respectively), Gertrude Story on a white stone slab (died 1723), Thomas Story on a black marble slab (died 1670), and Frances Story on a black marble slab (died 1675). The clock mounted on the west tower dates to 1749 and retains its original works.