Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a Grade II* parish church located in West Wickham. It mainly dates from the 14th century, with some restoration work carried out around 1900. The church is constructed of coursed flint, with clunch and limestone dressings, and features tiled roofs.

The structure includes a west tower, nave, south porch, north chapel, and chancel. The west tower has four stages, a blocked parapet, and three-stage diagonally set buttresses. The west window features restored reticulated tracery, and there is a newel stair turret in the southwest angle. The aisleless nave, built around 1350, has a south porch with three restored windows, each with cinquefoil lights. The south porch has an outer arch that is two-centred, with one continuous wave and one ogee moulded order, and an inner archway of two continuous ogee moulded orders.

The chancel, dating from around 1320, has three restored clunch windows with two cinquefoil lights and reticulated tracery in two-centred arches. The east window is of a similar period and has also been restored. The north chapel was added in the 15th century and contains two blocked clunch windows with vertical tracery, as well as a blocked doorway on the west side. The north doorway to the nave is made of clunch.

Inside, there is a two-centred west tower arch consisting of three chamfered orders on a high chamfered base. The roof is divided into four bays with braced tie beams and collars. The tie beam nearest the chancel arch is decorated with chevron ornament and is dated 1615. The north chapel now serves as an organ chamber and features a reset 13th-century arch of two chamfered orders on half-octagonal responds. The chancel arch is a two-centred arch supported by three shaft responds.

The chancel has a moulded string at sill height and a label above the rear window arches, terminating in mask heads on either side of the east window. There are two niches flanking the east window, each with a trefoil head, as well as an arch to the piscina in the south that also features a trefoil head. A notable monument on the north wall of the chancel commemorates Henry Harrison, who died in 1690, and consists of a black marble tablet in a bolection moulded frame, flanked by Corinthian pilasters.