Church Of St Mary

The Church of St. Mary is a parish church dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, with 19th-century restoration. It is constructed of flint with limestone dressings, with slate roofs over the nave and chancel, and lead roofs over the aisles and porch. Crested ridge tiles are present over the nave. The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south aisle, and south porch.

The west tower is of 15th-century knapped flint, featuring diagonal buttresses to the west side, a stone-faced plinth, and square traceried sound holes with label moulds. It has 2-light Decorated bell openings – the tracery is missing from the west and south sides – and a three-light Perpendicular west window (largely renewed), above a west doorway. A polygonal stair turret is located at the north-east corner, with pierced stone vents. A good 15th-century south porch has a parvis above with flushwork panels and diagonal buttresses to the south gable. The entrance arch is finely carved with spandrels depicting the Annunciation, and a small niche above contains a figure group, flanked by two windows, all under square label moulds. The south aisle has two 2-light Decorated and two 3-light Perpendicular windows, and a central staged buttress of brick and stone. Five widely-spaced 2-light clerestory windows are present. The south side of the chancel has a low side window with a cusped arch under a square label, two 2-light Decorated windows with a staged buttress between, and a priest’s door to the east side of the buttress. A 3-light reticulated east window is present, largely restored. A slate memorial tablet is dedicated to John Mitchells (+1776) and his wife (+1778). The north wall of the chancel has 2-light ‘Y’-traceried windows and the north clerestory to the nave mirrors the details on the south side. A north doorway has a continuous double chamfered arch. Two early stone coffin lids form steps down into the nave from the south porch. The roofs were all renewed in the 19th century.

Five bay north and south arcades feature double chamfered arches on octagonal piers, with a chancel arch of similar date. A rood stair is located on the north side of the chancel arch. A double aumbry is at the north-east corner of the north aisle, dating to the 15th century. A square-headed screen includes painted panels and an inscription commemorating the manumission of donor John Galt in 1437; the screen retains its original doors to the sanctuary. Traces of wall painting continue the screen design to the south. A stone coffin lid with a cross is set in the floor to the west of the screen, and a stone slab in the south-east corner of the chancel is believed to originate from the altar tomb of Richard de S. Walsham, Abbott of St. Benets (+1439). A dropped-cill sedilia is on the south side of the chancel, and a tall niche is in the north-east corner of the chancel, likely a banner staff locker. A monument to Rev. William Beevor (+1718), originally from the church of St. Lawrence, was removed in 1960. The font is late 14th century, octagonal with a traceried bowl and a massive stem with four shafts, and its podium contains medieval tiles. A good set of nave benches with poppyheads and carved borders are also present.