Parish Church Of St Mary

A parish church on the west side of The Street in High Easter, dating from the 12th to 19th centuries. The building exemplifies the complex architectural development of a medieval parish church across multiple periods of rebuilding and alteration.

The walls are constructed of flint rubble with some Roman brick and tiles laid in coursed herringbone work and Roman brick quoins. Dressings are primarily of Reigate stone and clunch. The roofs are lead-covered behind battlemented parapets. The church comprises a nave, north aisle, chancel, south porch, west tower, and a 19th-century vestry.

The nave is the primary focus of the structural development. Its north arcade, dating to around 1400, comprises four bays and was inserted into the original 12th-century wall. The arcade columns are octagonal with moulded capitals and bases, and the arches are two-centred with two orders of hollow chamfers. The south wall contains three windows dating to around 1400, largely rebuilt, along with traces of a 12th-century window with a semi-circular arch. A 12th-century south doorway survives with plain jambs, a semi-circular arch, and grooved and hollow chamfered imposts. The original 15th-century door features plain battens, three strap-hinges, and a sexfoil scutcheon.

The clerestorey, dating to the early 16th century, is constructed of red brick. It contains two windows in the east wall and four each in the north and south walls, each consisting of three trefoiled lights under four-centred heads with moulded labels. Some diapering appears on the north exterior wall, and pilaster buttresses with crow-stepped tabling occur on the south wall.

The roof above is of early 16th-century date, consisting of four bays of low-pitched queen-post trusses with moulded and embattled tie beams carved with running foliage. The spandrels are traceried, and four-centred braces form four-centred arches with carved bosses. Similar bosses appear at the junctions of principal rafters and purlins. Above the clerestorey windows in each bay is a four-centred arch with traceried spandrels.

The north aisle features an embattled parapet and three restored windows in the north wall. The central window comprises two cinquefoiled ogee lights under a two-centred head, probably of 14th-century date. The westernmost window consists of two trefoiled lights under a two-centred head, probably of the early 14th century. Between the two westernmost windows is a 14th-century north doorway with moulded jambs, a two-centred arch, and a label, constructed partly of reused 12th-century masonry. The west wall contains a restored window incorporating 14th-century and 12th-century masonry. The aisle roof is of 15th-century lean-to type, consisting of four bays with curved chamfered braces to wall posts.

The chancel features Roman brick quoins. Its east wall contains a window with 15th-century remnants. The north wall has a 15th-century doorway with moulded jambs and a two-centred arch beneath a square head with quartrefoil spandrels and a moulded internal label. The south wall contains two 15th-century windows, each of two restored lights under a four-centred head with a rear arch of two chamfered orders. Between these windows are traces of a former window of 13th- to 14th-century date. Further east is a doorway with chamfered jambs and a two-centred arch, probably of the early 14th century.

The chancel arch, possibly of 14th-century date, is two-centred with two chamfered orders. A 12th-century respond survives with two square orders facing the nave and one toward the chancel, whilst the north respond is constructed from reused 12th-century masonry.

The chancel contains a 14th-century piscina with an octagonal drain in a recess with cinquefoiled two-centred head and moulded jambs. Adjacent simple recessed sedilia occur beneath the south-east window.

The west tower dates to the 15th century and comprises three stages. The moulded plinth features chequerwork. Below the embattled parapet is a string course with bosses carved with beast heads and much-weathered gargoyles. The moulded two-centred tower arch has moulded responds, each with an attached shaft with moulded base and capital. The moulded label has angel stops. South of this is the stair turret door with moulded jambs and a four-centred arch; the door itself is 15th-century. The west doorway has a moulded two-centred arch set within a square head with spandrels carved with a horseman and woodman on the north side, a winged beast on the south, and a bust of an angel with shield at the apex. The moulded jambs and bases each have an attached shaft with moulded capital and base. The moulded label is mitred into a string course with carved bosses and stops. The west window is restored but retains external label-stops carved with figures playing musical instruments. The north-west and south walls of the second stage each contain a small cinquefoiled window with a square label. The bell chamber has windows in each wall consisting of two transomed and cinquefoiled lights under a two-centred head with label-stops carved with heads.

The early 16th-century south porch is constructed of red brick with a double-chamfered plinth, stepped gable, and embattled parapet. The outer archway has moulded jambs and a four-centred arch beneath a square head with a moulded label. The east wall contains a window of three trefoiled lights in a square head with moulded label. The west wall has a plain rectangular window.

The 14th-century font features an octagonal bowl with faces carved alternately with angels holding shields and symbols of the Evangelists. The octagonal stem has shaped stops and lead lining with a scratched inscription dated 1594. Fragments of 14th- or 15th-century stained glass survive in the south window of the nave.