Church of St Mary Little Hormead

The Church of St Mary in Little Hormead is a parish church with origins dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries. The nave was built in the 11th/12th century, with a north door added mid-12th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the early 13th century, and a red brick porch was added in the 18th century. The church was restored in 1888, resulting in the rebuilding of the east end wall and the reconstruction of a 15th-century bell turret over the west end.

The church is constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings, featuring good cubic ashlar diagonally dressed on the north side of the east wall of the nave. The south porch is of red brick. The bell turret is timber-framed with a pyramidial roof, and the roofs are covered in old red tiles with overhanging eaves. This is a small, unaisled church, characterized by a tall, narrow Romanesque nave and a lower chancel set on a slightly different axis.

The chancel features a triple lancet east window dating back to around 1888, a 15th-century piscina in the southeast corner, two 13th-century lancet windows in the south wall (the western window being more deeply splayed internally), a priest’s door inserted around 1888, and a large 15th-century window of cinquefoiled lights under a square head in the west wall. The nave has a 16th-century open timber roof with cambered tie-beams, collar trusses, and butt-purlins. The roof was reduced in length during the 1888 rebuilding of the east wall.

The nave is primarily Romanesque, featuring a narrow 11th-century doorway, a late 11th-century timber roof, an elaborate mid-12th-century north doorway, and a contemporary door with decorative ironwork. A small round-headed north window with deep internal splay is present, alongside a wide 12th-century chancel arch with a depressed round arch, roll moulding, and nook shafts with scalloped caps. A 15th-century window is located on the south wall, and a two-light window in a perpendicular style dating from around 1888 is found on the west side.

The octagonal font is from the early 14th century, with panels of blank tracery around the bowl. Above the chancel arch is a small carved and painted depiction of royal arms dating from 1660. The bell turret is supported by twin queen-strut trusses with wallposts and braces off corbels. The south doorway has a round head, chamfered plain imposts, a scratch dial and 17th-century graffiti on the exterior, and a stoup on the east side of the door. The north doorway’s exterior is characterized by a round arch with roll moulding, a plain tympanum, and nook shafts with cushion capitals. It is now blocked, with the door displayed inside.

The ironwork of the north door is of outstanding historical importance, featuring two large figures of interlaced arcs within square borders with surrounding scrolls, surmounted by a serpentine dragon. The plastered ceiling obscures a single-framed timber roof dating back to around 1190, featuring widely-spaced coupled rafters with angled struts above the collars, small collars at each apex, and lapped dovetail joints. Ashlar is hidden by plaster, but sole pieces join rafter ends externally with a side lap joint. The underside of each rafter end has deep hollow working with a large roll moulding.