Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin (Church Of England)

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin is a building of considerable historical significance, originating in the 11th century with subsequent additions and alterations through the 15th and 19th centuries. Located in Westmill village, the church’s layout evolved from a pre-Conquest two-cell structure, initially comprising a nave and square-ended chancel. The nave is notably wide, measuring 21 feet by 41.5 feet, and the original chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century.

Around 1190, a north aisle was added by cutting two pointed, un-moulded arches through the original north wall. These arches have splayed edges, dripmoulds and moulded abaci. A doorway leading to a rood loft stair is positioned at the east end of the north wall. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century and features a 14th-century two-centred arch with two moulded orders, a dripmould, and responds with three engaged shafts. The tower was constructed in the 15th century, accompanied by the replacement of the nave roof. The south porch was rebuilt, and the entire church was restored in 1876, accompanied by the addition of a lean-to vestry to the northeast.

The church is primarily constructed of flint rubble with limestone dressings, with sections of Barnack stone long-and-short work visible at the southeast corner of the nave, and reused in buttresses on the north aisle. The tower features a knapped flint and limestone chequered plinth. The roofs are steeply pitched with old red tiles, topped with a leaded Hertfordshire spike and vane on a pyramidial slated base behind the crenelated tower parapet. The west tower is three-stage and features a tall two-centred arch opening into the nave, with three chamfered orders. The elaborate west doorway includes moulded jambs, canopied niches, and spandrels carved with censing angels. A three-light window and four two-light belfry openings, adorned with traceried heads, are also present on the tower’s west face. The tower has gargoyles and a deep moulded string at its base.

The nave retains a 15th-century scissor-braced collar-purlin roof with octagonal crown-posts and four-way bracing. A memorial slab to Nicol de Leuknore, bearing a Lombardic edge inscription, is embedded in the tower’s base. The octagonal font, crafted from clunch and dating to the late 15th century, showcases fleurons in quatrefoils on its panelled sides. Original 15th-century benches with buttressed ends remain. A polychrome tile reredos, concealed behind the altar, is believed to be the final design by Sir Ninian Comper. Key features include two polychrome octagonal riddel posts supporting gilded angels, two of which are now located under the tower. The late 17th-century oak communion rails display twisted balusters. The church also houses a vigorously carved eagle lectern, an organ front, and a 1931 panelled pulpit decorated by Peter Larkworthy.