Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed parish church located in Cranworth. It features a combination of medieval and later architectural elements, constructed from flint with ashlar dressings. The roof is made of lead and slate, topped with a weatherboarded spire. The church includes a west tower, an aisled nave with a north porch, a storeroom to the south, and a chancel with a vestry to the north.

The west tower, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, is unbuttressed and has a stair turret on the south side. It features a two-light Y-traceried west window with carved label stops, as well as quatrefoil sound holes on the north and west sides. The tower has two-light 14th-century bell openings with foiled soufflets, a crenellated parapet, and a short octagonal spire. The 14th-century north aisle includes a three-light east window with a pair of mouchettes and a dagger, along with three contemporary two-light north windows that have carved head label stops. There is also a two-light cusped Y-traceried west window. The south aisle, added in the Victorian era, closely imitates the north aisle.

The chancel features a two-light Decorated window to the north with a soufflet, and two-light cusped Y-traceried windows to the south. There is a cusped lancet window on the south side, which has a transom that separates a now-blocked lower quarter opening. The Victorian north porch is designed in the Perpendicular style, while the north doorway is a moulded 14th-century feature with impressive carved head label stops. A modern timber-framed storeroom has been added to the south, with flint infill, alongside a simple 14th-century moulded south doorway.

Inside, the nave has four bays with 14th-century quatrefoil piers that support wave-moulded arches on the north side, with a south arcade that imitates this design. The plain chamfered tower arch is supported on carved head corbels, and the wave-moulded chancel arch also features similar corbels. The chancel contains a double piscina and a rebuilt triple sedilia, with original cusped arches to the piscinae showcasing a geometric spandrel motif. There is a 14th-century ogee-headed and cusped tomb recess in the north aisle, along with notable Neo-Classical and Baroque wall monuments to the Gurdon family located in both aisles. The church also has a plain 14th-century octagonal font.