Church of St Mary the Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This is a Grade I listed parish church dating from the first half of the 14th century, restored in 1865. The building is constructed of flint with ashlar dressings and lead roofs, except for the plain tiled chancel.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, aisles and chancel. The tower rises in three stages with angle buttresses. The west window has two lights with Y tracery. String courses run between the stages, positioned below cusped circular ringing chamber windows on the north, south and west faces. The belfry stage is reduced in size and features rebuilt two-light Y openings, each with a gargoyle over the apex in a low parapet. An octagonal timber spire with a thin broached and leaded finish rises above, ornamented with a gabled lucarne to the east.

The south aisle has diagonal buttresses and two-light cusped Y tracery windows under rounded heads, some retaining head stops to the hoods. The south-east window has three lights. The south porch is constructed of knapped flint with a gabled lead roof and diagonal buttresses enlivened by ogeed statutory niches. It has a double chamfered arch with fleurons below the niche. Two two-light reticulated windows face east and west, with those on the south having two subsidiary units each.

The east window of the aisle is a three-light 19th-century reticulated window. A low side window to the chancel south is formed as an arch within a gable. Three two-light 19th-century reticulated windows separated by flat buttresses occupy the south chancel; the central one is shorter to accommodate an early 14th-century priest's door with undercut mouldings. Diagonal buttresses to the east frame a five-light elaborate 19th-century window. The east gable sits on kneelers. The north chancel has one flat buttress and two two-light 19th-century reticulated windows. The north aisle east window has three lights with ogee lights and an arrangement of mouchettes, probably an accurate restoration or original work. The north aisle features diagonal corner buttresses and three flat buttresses, with five two-light mouchette or reticulated windows. The north door in the second bay has continuous mouldings. A 19th-century brick and flint vestry stands to the north of the tower, blocking the west window. Four flat-headed two-light cusped clerestory windows run along both north and south sides.

Interior

The arcade comprises five bays of quatrefoil piers with shafts between the foils. Polygonal bases and capitals support double hollow chamfered arches. Demi-octagonal responds to the tower arch have polygonal capitals and a triple hollow chamfered arch, now blocked. The chancel arch matches the nave arcades. A wave-moulded stilted arch opens from the north-east nave chapel into the chancel under a square hood, positioned to the side of the rood stair arch which has continuous mouldings. An ogeed trefoil piscina sits in the chapel. Sedilia and piscina of 19th-century date stand in the chancel. A low effigy niche exists in the chancel north wall.

The chancel roof is scissor-braced and dates to 1865. The nave roof spans seven bays with a king post, arched struts and queen posts to the purlins. The eastern tie beam is moulded and crenellated. The remainder of the ties are probably 17th-century replacements, featuring sunk quadrant mouldings and stops. The western tie is inscribed TM 1622 IC. Heavy moulded wall plates in three orders support the roof. The aisle roofs have ties with struts to the purlins; one in the south aisle is inscribed IW 1802 IL, and one in the north reads JCC 1858 WG. An ogeed effigy niche in the north-east chapel is wave-moulded with a crocket and central spandrel decorated with leaf carving. The niche contains a wooden cross-legged effigy of a knight painted to imitate stone, dating to about 1340, normally regarded as representing Sir Hugh Bardolph, though historical records show he died in 1203.

A plain octagonal font dates to the 14th century, with a font cover added in 1864. Pitch-pine pews were installed in 1865. Royal arms of George III appear on the west nave wall. The chancel and parclose screens are 19th-century work.