Parish Church Of St Mary

The parish church of St Mary largely dates to the later 13th century, incorporating an early 13th-century north doorway. The upper part of the tower and a projecting stair are from the 16th century. A restoration in 1852 by P.C. Hardwick for John Hodgson of Gilston Park involved rebuilding the south aisle and adding a south porch and vestry. The church stands within the setting of a deserted medieval village.

The building comprises a continuous chancel and nave, north and south aisles with four-bay arcades separated by distinct roofs, a west tower and spire, a south porch, and a north vestry. The walls are of flint rubble with stone dressings, topped by a steep red tile roof and gable parapets with moulded stone copings and kneelers. The east wall is plastered. The tower, rising 7 metres, is constructed of 16th-century red brick, featuring a three-sided brick stair projection with a brick roof, reminiscent of Sawbridgeworth Church. Reset 14th-century windows, a flint-faced embattled parapet, and a slender octagonal reticulated lead spire are also present. The aisles have low-pitched slated roofs. The 19th-century south aisle is built of uncoursed knapped flints with random stone blocks and Bath stone dressings. The vestry, also 19th-century, is of uncoursed field flints with stone dressings and has a tiled timber-framed porch with elaborate carved bargeboards, a gable, and a dressed stone plinth. A 19th-century south doorway is in the early English style. The west doorway is of the late 13th century, featuring shafted jambs and a moulded arch of three orders. A blocked early 13th-century north doorway is set within greenish stone shafted jambs, moulded head, and weathered leaf capitals. Lancet windows are generally present, with those at the west end of the chancel, on the north and south walls, having unusually low sills. A two-light window in the north aisle includes elementary plate tracery and a trefoil top. The east angle of the north aisle is chamfered. The 19th-century roof has arch-braced collar trusses defining four nave bays, with plain stone corbels, and three chancel bays, boarded under the rafters, with carved corbels. The important late 13th-century wooden screen has been reframed in the 19th century. A double piscina, dating back to the 13th century, features a central marble shaft and a hexagonal cusped blind figure in the spandrel, with a later plaster rose applied above. Encaustic tile surrounds memorial floor slabs. The east wall displays 19th-century painted diaper decoration by Percy Bacon Bros. Quatrefoil 13th-century stone nave pillars support low pointed arches. The hexagonal Purbeck marble font bowl, dating to the 12th century, has blind arcading and stands on a later base. A late 16th-century tower arch incorporates one shaft to each jamb. Two mural monuments commemorate Bridget Gore, who died in 1657, and Sir John Gore, who died in 1659, both created by Joshua Marshall. Two stone coffin lids are set into the floor of the north aisle and are likely from the 14th century. The church is a significant example of a late 13th-century parish church, preserved from extensive alteration due to the village's abandonment, containing noteworthy features, fittings, and monuments, including an outstanding 13th-century wooden screen. It serves as an important landmark and a focal point within a group of varied architectural styles.