Church of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This church is built of brick and coursed, dressed Kentish ragstone with Bathstone details, and machine-made red-clay tiles to the roof. The spire is of smooth stone.

The building comprises a nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch and a western tower with a tall broach spire. A small north projecting vestry at ground floor is topped by an organ loft.

The exterior features coped gables and stepped, half-buttresses to the nave and chancel. The nave has moulded stone eaves and windows of one, two or three lights with pointed arches, bar tracery and alternate quatrefoils or trefoils at the apex. Except for the memorial windows, the glazing consists of diamond leaded lights. The stained glass east window has three lights with two quatrefoils and a trefoil.

The north elevation includes the projecting vestry with windows at ground and first-floor levels, and a squat stair turret with a tiled conical roof surmounting moulded smooth-stone panels pierced by trefoil openings. A door below leads to the vestry.

The south porch has two corner buttresses and a pair of wrought-iron entrance gates set in a pointed arch surround with carved pilaster jambs and a hood mould with carved-head stops. The oak church door has wrought-iron straps and carved coffering to its interior.

The west tower has three stages and stepped diagonal buttresses to the west; a stair tower with arrow-slit openings is attached to the south. The first stage has a memorial window at the west elevation. The belfry contains pairs of two-light pointed arch window openings with pilaster jambs, carved capitals and louvres at each elevation. At the base of the tall broach spire four moulded stone pinnacles are diagonally placed at each corner, appearing unfinished.

The interior roofs of the nave, chancel and aisles are supported on slender moulded stone brackets in the form of cornucopia. The pine, arch-braced roofs have pairs of windbraces on each pitch. The four-bay nave has alternate round and octagonal piers with deeply moulded capitals and bases; some of the carving is by T. Earp. The chancel arch is supported by three engaged columns at each side, one in polished marble, with moulded capitals and bases. An inscription above reads 'Yield yourselves to the Lord and enter into His sanctuary'.

The vestry in the north transept contains 18th and 19th-century memorials from the previous church attached to the walls, including one of 1804 to William Hucks by Richard Westmacott. A stair leads to the organ loft above, where the 1938 organ by Cedric Arnold of Thaxted, gifted by Mrs L.C. Keene, is located. Above the window at the east gable end of the loft is the inscription 'O Come let us sing unto the Lord'. The loft has a double opening onto the chancel with richly decorated columns, bar tracery and a wrought-iron screen.

The chancel has simple panelling beneath a carved stone dado. Behind this stands the plain altar table with a delicately carved reredos attached to it. The floor is covered with encaustic tiles. A lavabo is located on the south wall. The contemporary east window by Powell and Sons depicts the Annunciation, the Incarnation and the Crucifixion.

In the north aisle is a simple timber war memorial attached to the wall, and brass memorials are attached to the south aisle wall. Further stained-glass memorial windows include one to Arthur Pryor depicting Faith, Hope and Charity, and another to his wife Elizabeth flanked by Martha and Mary. An additional memorial window is located at the west elevation of the tower.

The font is of Portland stone and has a timber lid with iron strapping; it may predate the church. The timber nave pews, pulpit and choir stalls (some with poppy heads) are contemporary with the building.