Parish Church Of St Edmund King And Martyr

The parish church of St Edmund King and Martyr likely dates back to the 12th or 13th centuries, with significant additions and alterations in the 14th, 15th, and 17th centuries. The church's fabric reflects these different periods.

The west tower is of the 14th century, constructed from coursed rubble and flint with flushwork dedication crosses and a chequered plinth. It features angle buttresses, an octagonal stair turret to the northeast, embattled parapets, and two strings of stone. The belfry windows include cinquefoil and rectangular lights, with a segmental hoodmould above the lower west window. The nave has a ridged, gabled roof covered in peg tiles, with buttresses on the south side, one of which conceals a rood-stair tower. Two large windows with Y-tracery, made of thin oak, are located on the south side, each containing six lights and dating to the 19th century.

The south porch, built around 1680, has an oak frame on red-brick ground walls, featuring three-centred arcades supported by turned columns and an obtuse, peg-tiled gabled roof. The columns are of Doric order. The chancel, with a ridged, gabled, peg-tiled roof, has two bays and contains Perpendicular windows, two of which have three cinque-foiled lights under elaborate four-centred heads with labels on head-stops. A priest door is adorned with three roll moulds and a beaked hood moulding. The north windows of the chancel are 14th century, with acutely pointed trefoil-shaped lights and tricusped heads.

The north aisle features a Perpendicular east window with a two-centred head and label on stops. A crenellated transom runs across the centre light, flanked by pointed trefoils, a detail reflecting a catslide roof that was later gabled. The north wall also includes a window with a late four-centred cinque-foil and a deep four-centred hoodmould, partly restored in red brick, along with three Y windows mirroring those on the south side. A 15th-century north door retains some carved leaf decoration, while the south door has two leaves hinged at the centre, with a sunken quatrefoil on the base plank. Both doors have square cross-ledged construction.

Internally, the tower arch and five-bay north arcade, along with the chancel arch (featuring four lobes and intervening hollows) date from circa 1362-71. The nave and chancel walls have casement windows with crenellated cresting. A mid-17th century octagonal pulpit with a sounding canopy featuring six turned pendants and tiers of fielded panels stands within the nave. A 15th century octagonal font is also present. The north chancel wall contains a niche with a fleuroned sill and head, likely dating from around 1400. The church has white brick floors. A horsebox, dating from approximately 1700, serves as a vestry on the north aisle. A door to the stair turret has iron plating dating from the 16th century and incorporates an earlier leaf with strap-hinges. A settle from around 1680 is located at the base of the tower, featuring fielded panels and turned legs. It includes stairs leading to a former rood loft. The church is noted for its group value.