Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This Grade I listed church is mainly of circa 1360, with later restorations. It is constructed of flint rubble walls with clunch and shelly oolite dressings, and some bricks. The roofs are of lead, with grey slate to the aisles and red plain tile to the chancel. The church comprises a west tower, nave with crenellated clerestory, north and south aisles also crenellated, and a south porch, together with a chancel and north vestry.

The West Tower has three stages with crenellations and three-stage angled buttresses, a timber spire, and grotesques to each face. A south-east stair turret with red tiled roof dates to the 15th century. The west doorway and the three-light west window with mullion and tracery are 19th or 20th century additions. Above are two single-light windows, originally with trefoiled heads but now restored. Similar windows appear on the north and south walls, though the south window is now blocked. The bellchamber has in each wall two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head. The two-centred tower arch is of two moulded orders, with responds featuring semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases.

The Nave has north and south arcades of five bays each, featuring two-centred arches of two moulded orders with moulded labels and head stops, many of which are 19th or 20th century work. The columns have four semi-octagonal shafts with small roll mouldings, moulded capitals and bases. The clerestory was inserted in the early 16th century when the nave roof was raised. It has on each side five windows of three cinquefoil lights under four-centred heads. The roof features crenellated moulded wall plates and six cambered moulded tie beams. At the feet of the intermediate principals are carved angels holding blank shields, and at the purlin intersections are foliated bosses.

Externally, the North Aisle has four grotesque gargoyles below the crenellations. A 15th or 16th century doorway with chamfered jambs and three-centred head is in the east wall. Of the four north wall windows, the easternmost and third are of two cinquefoil lights in a two-centred head; the second is late 14th century with three lights under a four-centred head; the fourth is similar to the easternmost but with different tracery. Between the third and fourth windows is the blocked north doorway with moulded jambs, a two-centred arch, and moulded labels. The west wall window matches the easternmost window. The South Aisle has three grotesque gargoyles below the crenellations. The east wall window is of three trefoiled lights with net tracery in a two-centred head. Of the four south wall windows, the easternmost and third are of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a two-centred head, as is the west wall window. The second and fourth windows are similar but with different tracery and shafted splays. Between the third and fourth windows is the south doorway with a two-centred arch of moulded orders, moulded label and rear arch, and a nailed board door. Internally, between the first and second windows are the upper and lower doorways to the rood loft stairs, with chamfered jambs and three-centred heads of late 15th or early 16th century date. Seven lower steps of the staircase remain. A 14th century piscina with moulded trefoil head, label, and basin is visible.

The South Porch has walls raised with brick in the 16th century. The outer archway is moulded and two-centred, with a niche above containing a Madonna statue, above which is a band and parapet. The east wall has a brick-restored rectangular window, and the west wall has a similar brick quatrefoiled window.

The Chancel dates to the 14th century and has chamfered external and moulded internal string courses. The east window is of five cinquefoiled lights with 15th century tracery and a two-headed centre head; the jambs, head, labels, and rear arch are moulded, and the internal splays each have two attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. Of the two north wall windows, the eastern is of two plain lights under a pointed head; the western, of two pointed lights, is now blocked. There is a two-centred arch doorway. Three windows are in the south wall: two of two trefoiled lights and one of two cinquefoiled lights with various tracery under two-centred heads; the southernmost has a transom. Between the windows is a doorway with a two-centred head of two moulded arches.

The two-centred chancel arch is of two moulded arches with shafted responds having moulded bases and capitals. The arch is filled with a stone screen, of which only three are known to exist: this one, one at Great Bardfield in Essex, and one in Trondheim, Norway. The screen is of three bays, divided by clustered shafts with moulded bases and capitals that continue upward to form three pointed sub-arches, which are trefoiled, sub-cusped, crocketed, and ball-flowered. Grotesques appear at the centre sub-arch stops. Above the centre sub-arch in the middle bay is a transom supporting the Rood. The head of the main arch is filled with elaborately enriched tracery. The base of the side bays is filled with fleuron panelling with a moulded coping.

The chancel roof is of 15th century date, of braced collar beam type. The wall plates are crenellated, all timbers are moulded, and the purlins and wall plates are foliated. The curved braces have traceried spandrels. A 14th century piscina, double with two cinquefoil heads and a quatrefoil in a two-centred main head, has two drains, an octofoil, and a shelf at the back. A 14th century sedilia in range with the piscina comprises three arches with moulded cinquefoil heads on double-shafted jambs and piers with three attached shafts, all with moulded capitals and bases and carved faces to label stops. In the north wall is a projecting wood block with slotted soffit, for the pulley of the Lenten veil. There is a carved wooden reredos and an antique carved stone used as a credence. 18th century communion rails feature fluted and twisted balusters and a middlegate. An ornately carved wooden chair is also present.

The North Vestry has an east wall window with a square head. Two square-head windows are in the north wall, one blocked and the other with two trefoiled lights. A plain board door with a flat lintel is present. A raised door in the south wall with steps to the rood loft communicates with the chancel.

Monuments and furnishings include brasses in the chancel to Thomas Jernigon, dated circa 1608, and in the nave to a widow of circa 1390, possibly Margaret de Ferrers, with other indents remaining. A 15th or 16th century chest with iron-bound lid cover and three locks is preserved. The font is octagonal with a plain bowl, moulded at the base and a cusped panelled stem. A 16th century stoup in the south porch has a pointed head and broken basin. Remains of wall paintings are visible in the chancel, nave, and aisles. A 16th century reredos in the north aisle on the east wall comprises elaborate canopy remains with vaulted soffit and projecting brackets, now cut back to the face of the wall. The clock in the west tower is approximately 200 years old.