Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Sheering

This is a parish church of late 13th to late 14th-century date, extended in the 20th century. It stands on Church Lane and is constructed of flint rubble with some Roman brick, dressed with stone and clunch, with Roman brick quoins at the north-west angle of the nave only. The nave is roofed with lead, while the chancel, vestry, and other parts are covered with handmade red clay tiles.

The building comprises a chancel (late 14th century), nave, south porch, north vestry with a chamber over (14th century), and a west tower (late 13th century, repaired with brickwork in the 16th century). A north aisle was added and general restoration undertaken between 1901 and 1904.

The east window contains five cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head, restored, with late 14th-century glass depicting eight orders of angels with their names inscribed, and a coronation of the virgin with two censing angels. In the north wall of the chancel, a doorway opens into the north vestry with moulded jambs and a two-centred head; the jambs feature attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases, while the moulded label has carved head-stops and a three-centred hollow-chamfered rear arch. The door itself is of plain battens with a narrow panel of carved quatrefoils, now restored. Above is a trefoiled piercing with a circular label and a kneeling recess on the north side. The south wall contains two windows of two and three cinquefoiled lights respectively under two-centred arches, with fragments of 14th-century glass in the square heads. Between them is a doorway with jambs of two chamfered orders and a restored head. The triple chancel arch is 20th-century work. The north vestry was originally of two storeys, functioning as a priests' lodging with a kneeling recess providing a view of the altar from the upper storey; its floor is now missing. The upper north window has one cinquefoiled light with tracery in a square head and a three-centred rear arch (internally restored), and retains three iron hooks for a shutter. The lower east window, restored, retains a wrought iron casement and four-centred rear arch. A 20th-century arcade runs along the north wall of the nave. The south wall has an embattled parapet of plasterwork, with mostly 20th-century windows.

The south doorway has moulded jambs and a two-centred arch within a square head; each jamb features two attached shafts with moulded capitals and moulded octagonal bases. The moulded label carries 20th-century head-stops, and the spandrels enclose tracery and shields. The door is divided into five vertical panels by chamfered fillets and hung on two long strap hinges; it retains a late 14th-century stock-lock. East of the door is a stoop, and west of it stands a painted consecration cross in red with flowered ends within a circle (14th century; reported replaced by a replica following a fire in 2010). The west wall contains a 13th-century arcade of three bays, with the middle bay forming the tower-arch and the others forming recesses. The piers are chamfered with broached and moulded stops and moulded abaci; the south respond of the south recess has a moulded capital of earlier date. The arches are two-centred and chamfered, with the middle arch of two orders, the inner order having two moulded imposts.

The tower is square, rising three storeys, with a 16th-century brick embattled parapet. The ground storey has arched recesses on three sides similar to the tower-arch; the west wall contains a restored lancet window. The second storey has a similar west window. The third storey (bell chamber) has in each wall a late 14th-century window of two quatrefoiled lights and a depressed quatrefoil beneath a semi-circular arch, variously restored. A solid oak staircase rises from the ground to the first floor, enclosed by a partition of oak framing infilled with wide elm boards and hung with an elm door on strap hinges. The south porch has an outer two-centred arch with moulded responds, each featuring three attached shafts with restored capitals and bases. Its east wall contains a trefoiled window under a square head, partly restored.

The nave roof dates to the 14th century and is of gambrel form, supported on king posts and queen posts with upper knees on moulded tie beams. The chancel roof is 16th-century, of side purlin form with wind bracing of flattened four-centred curvature. The chancel floor contains a slab to Margaret, wife of Richard Sayer, with a shield of arms dated 1705, while the nave contains a brass to Robert Hurste (died 1583) and Anne his wife (died 1573), inscription only. The church contains four bells: the first and third cast by Miles Graye in 1619, the second probably by William Wightman in 1682, and the fourth probably by Richard Keene in 1702. Above the south door hangs a royal coat of arms dated 1785.