Church Of St George

This parish church dates mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries. The chancel, nave, and south aisle are early 14th century. The north aisle, arcade, and south chapel date from the mid-15th century, when the south aisle was rebuilt. Around 1500, the west tower, south porch, and nave clerestorey were added. The church underwent 19th-century restorations, including rebuilding of the chancel arch.

The building is constructed of mixed rubble and brick with limestone dressings. The clerestorey and south porch are of flint flushwork featuring crocketed ogee panels, with a similar plinth to the south chapel. The roofs are covered with red tiles.

Chancel

The east window has three trefoiled lights with tracery above and a moulded two-centred arch. It is mainly 19th century but incorporates 15th-century shafted splays. Two 19th-century windows on the north wall each have two cinquefoiled lights with centre transoms, two-centred arches, moulded labels, and stops.

North Aisle

The north aisle features angle and centre buttresses. The 15th-century east window has three cinquefoiled and transomed lights with tracery above, a two-centred arch, a moulded label, and head stops. Two similar windows appear on the north wall. The late 15th-century north doorway has moulded jambs, a two-centred head, and a label with headstops. The three orders of moulding and label are carved with flowers. The door is 16th or 17th century, made of four boards with moulded muntins and edging. The west window is similar to the east window.

Clerestorey and South Chapel

The nave north clerestorey is crenellated with traceried panels and a cross of St George in flint flushwork. It contains seven windows, each with two trefoiled ogee lights, vertical tracery, four-centred heads, and moulded surrounds and labels.

The south chapel and south aisle are crenellated. The chapel has a moulded plinth of flint flushwork, with angle and end buttresses. The east window has three cusped ogee lights with tracery, a moulded segmental head, and label. Both the chapel and aisle have one 15th-century window each, featuring three cinquefoiled lights, vertical tracery, and moulded segmental pointed heads with labels. The 15th-century chapel doorway has moulded jambs, a three-centred head, and label, with a plank and muntin door.

The nave south wall clerestorey matches the north wall. The south doorway, dating from around 1400, has moulded jambs, a two-centred arch, and a label with headstops, all carved with running foliage. Above the doorway are sunk spandrels containing carved figures of Adam and Eve. The double doors each have three vertical panels with trefoils and sub-cusped heads, plus three tiers of tracery above (part of the tracery is lost). There is a pierced escutcheon plate.

South Porch

The south porch is constructed of flint flushwork with traceried panels, a moulded plinth, and a gable parapet with crenellated finials. The crenellated north and south walls each contain a window with three cusped ogee lights, tracery above, and moulded jambs and labels. The angled buttresses have crenellated pinnacles rising above the gable parapet. A moulded band and coping finish the gable, with another moulded band above the doorway.

A central niche above the doorway features pinnacled triple buttressed jambs and a traceried canopy with a three-sided cinquefoiled head, crocketed and finialed spire. A 20th-century figure of Madonna and Child occupies the niche. A scratch dial appears to the left of the archway.

The two-centred south doorway has two moulded orders: the outer continuous, the inner resting on shafts with moulded capitals and bases. A moulded square label tops the doorway, with spandrels carved with figures of St George and the Dragon. Below the stops are carved figures standing on the shafts; the left figure is now missing. The porch has a plastered vaulted roof.

West Tower

The west tower dates from the late 15th century and has a crow-stepped parapet with pinnacles at the angles. It is built in three stages. The buttresses are square in plan to the first stage, then develop into octagonal turrets and triple buttresses. The moulded stone plinth is enriched with quatrefoils, with bands between stages. A shield of St George is said to be on the south-west buttress. The stair turret is at this angle, with small loops to the west and south walls.

Each face of the bell chamber has a transomed cinquefoiled three-light window in a four-centred head with a moulded label. The second stage has a blocked doorway to the roof on the east wall, and a trefoiled light with square head and label on the north, west, and south walls.

The first stage's west window is mainly 19th or 20th century, with five transomed cinquefoiled lights, vertical tracery above, a moulded two-centred arched head, and a brick arch to the apex. The west doorway has moulded jambs, a moulded two-centred arch carved with square flowers, and a moulded square head and label. The stops are carved with a griffin holding a scroll and an angel with a book. The spandrels are carved with quatrefoiled circles and foliage, one circle enclosing the letters IHS.

The 15th-century door has two folds, nailed and divided into vertical panels by moulded muntins. The upper half has ogee heads with transomed tracery above. A monument with side pilasters, open pediment, and cill on brackets stands on the south wall of the first stage.

Interior: Chancel

The chancel has a painted barrel-vaulted roof with ribs and bosses, and a stone floor. The east window contains 19th-century stained glass. On the north wall, a moulded cornice with carved flowers dates from the 15th century, possibly the head of a blocked recess. Crenellated panelling covers the north wall. A carved and traceried reredos from 1929 stands behind moulded altar rails.

The piscina has a cinquefoiled two-centred arch with chamfered jambs and a blocked drain, said to be quatrefoiled. The sedilia is 15th century, partly restored, with two bays featuring cinquefoiled two-centred heads and a central shaft with moulded capital and base, plus semi-octagonal responds. On the south wall, a 15th-century two-centred archway has two hollow chamfered orders, the inner resting on shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The chancel arch is 19th century.

Interior: South Chapel and South Aisle

The lean-to roof of the south chapel and south aisle is continuous, comprising nine bays with moulded timbers and crenellated wall plates. The south aisle has wall posts and seven head corbels, with moulded braces to tie beams and foliate carved bosses. The floor is brick.

The south chapel contains a 14th-century piscina with a trefoiled head, crocketed and finialed gable, frieze and cornice, side buttresses, and an octofoil drain. A drain from a piscina found near Cold Hall in 1911 is a pointed octofoil. A niche appears to the north of the east wall window. Two floor slabs have indents, one to Elizabeth Giels dated 1699(?). A floor slab with brass commemorates William Bischopton (1432), showing a figure of a priest in mass vestments with a scroll, worn inscription, and canopy. Three other monuments are in the south chapel and three in the nave, though these were not visible at the time of resurvey.

A wall monument commemorates William Hanson, born September 1778, who died aged 25 at Villa Franca, Catalonia, fighting the French cavalry. It depicts a kneeling soldier at the foot of a flag.

In the south aisle, at the east end of the north wall, a lower two-centred arched doorway and stairs lead to the former rood loft. The south-east doorway has a square head. Wall monuments commemorate Henry Hanson (1796) and Letitia Sarah Mangls (1812). A brass wall plate reads: "Of your charite pray for the soule of John Hubbarde whych deptyd ye first day of February MeVcXXXVII and for the soules also of Agnes Alys Rose and Elizabeth Wyffes of ye said John Hubbard and John Willm and John hys sonnes on whose soules JHU have mercy amen."

A 17th-century chest has three carved and arcaded front panels. A communion table with turned legs and carved top rail dates from around 1650.

The south arcade is early 14th century, with three bays featuring two-centred arches of two chamfered orders. The octagonal columns have restored moulded bases. The western capital is moulded and carved with grotesques, animals, and heads, while the eastern column and respond capitals are carved with foliage. The east respond has an attached shaft; the west respond is plain.

Interior: North Arcade and North Aisle

The north arcade has three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders, octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases, and responds with attached half-columns.

The north aisle has a brick floor and a 15th-century piscina with moulded jambs, a cinquefoiled two-centred arched head, and a blocked drain. A small chair incorporates a re-used carved back and poppyheads. Floor slabs have indents. The roof comprises six bays with moulded timbers.

Interior: Nave

The 19th-century chancel arch is a two-centred arch with attached jamb shafts featuring moulded and foliate carved capitals and moulded bases. A round-headed niche appears on the wall east of the eastern respond of the north arcade.

The 20th-century font is octagonal with cusped double ogee arches and foliate spandrels to four panels; single arches decorate the other panels. It has a moulded base and a carved, traceried, and crocketed cover. The octagonal pulpit has oak traceried panels and a stone base with carved quatrefoils. Twentieth-century box pews are throughout.

The nave features a very fine early 15th-century double hammerbeam roof of seven bays with moulded main timbers. Curved braces to collars and hammerbeams are crenellated. The spandrels of braces are carved with foliage. Braces and wall posts have crocketed and canopied niches containing defaced figures. The stone corbels have carved cresting and are alternately carved with half-angels. Moulded and crenellated wall plates support a band of traceried panelling enclosing shields, three bearing the cross of St George. A lower band of carving includes wings, crowns, and flowers. Traces of painting survive on the first pier of the south arcade.

Interior: West Tower

The west tower has a two-centred tower arch with three hollow chamfered orders, the inner resting on attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The two-centred doorway to the stair turret has a two-board door with muntin and escutcheon plate. A lamp bracket is fixed to the south wall.

Two memorial boards commemorate Peal Minors: 5040 changes in three hours on 13 April 1907, and 5040 changes in three hours and five minutes on 25 October 1930. Bell ringers' hats hang high up in the tower (not visible at time of resurvey). The earliest is said to date from 1716, perpetuating the custom of hanging a ringer's hat in the church when he died. There are seven bells, the oldest cast at Sudbury in 1717, and 'Old Tenor' from 1726.