Church Of St Ethelbert And All Saints

The Church of St. Ethelbert and All Saints is a building of significant historical interest, dating back to around 1130 with substantial alterations and additions across the centuries. The original core of the church is the nave, followed by a 13th-century chancel, which was partly rebuilt in the late 14th century. A late 14th-century south porch features a 15th-century arch, while a late 15th-century bell turret incorporates repairs from the 17th and 19th centuries. A 19th-century north porch completes the external features.

The church is primarily constructed of flint rubble, originally rendered with cement, with limestone and clunch dressings. The 19th-century belfry is crenellated and rendered, displaying two light louvred openings on each face. The roofs are tiled, with stone coping to the east gable of the nave, incorporating a 15th-century apex stone marking the location of a former cross.

The chancel east window is of three trefoiled lights within a segmental head, with a moulded rear arch dating back to the 13th century. North and south walls contain two late 14th-century windows, each featuring two trefoiled lights and square heads with moulded labels. The late 14th-century chancel arch is two-centred, composed of two moulded orders that transition to plain, hollow chamfered responds. A simple 14th-century piscina is located in the south wall. The chancel roof is 15th-century, consisting of seven cants with scissor braces and a moulded wall plate. An early 18th-century moulded rail and twisted baluster serves as the communion rail, alongside a brick floor revealing a 14th-century tomb with a raised central cross ridge and ornamentation. 14th-century glass with bordered heads is present in the northeast and southeast windows.

The nave's south windows are 15th-century, one with two trefoiled lights under a square head, and another with three ogee lights under a square head. The north window is 14th-century, featuring three cinquefoil lights with tracery within a four-centred head and a moulded label. The north doorway retains 12th-century chamfered jambs and a 16th-century four-centred arch; the spays and rear arch remain original. A 19th/20th-century west window has two lights within a two-centred arch. A doorway on the south side dates back to around 1130, displaying a two-order semi-circular arch with the inner order roll moulded and the outer enriched with chevrons. Shafted orders with spirally fluted and beaded details, cable moulded bases, and carved and scalloped capitals characterize the jambs. One west capital has been reversed, and the depressed rear arch dates from the 14th/15th century. The door is vertically boarded, secured by four ornate hinges. The nave roof is plastered. The bell turret, originally supported by portal frames, now rests on four eastern posts, with the central pair decorated with a guilloche pattern. A small panelled gallery, accessed by a ladder, is located northeast of these supports. Box pews line the north and south sides, above which is a plain tie beam. Displayed on the west wall are two boards inscribed with Exodus 1/4 and 5/10.

The font is 15th-century, with an octagonal, quatrefoil-panelled bowl featuring a crenellated rim and a panelled stem with two lights and quatrefoils above. It stands on a moulded base, covered by a plain timber octagonal ribbed cover with an octagonal finial. The pulpit is a late 16th-century oak structure with an octagonal shape and upper panels enriched with arcades. Fragments of 14th and 15th-century tabernacle glass survive. The south porch has a 15th-century outer archway, two-centred with chamfered orders, accompanied by 15th-century windows featuring two cinquefoil lights with square heads and a segmental brick outer order. The porch roof is of seven cants with crenellated wall plates. A water stoup is situated in the northeast corner of the church.