Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating back to the 12th and 15th centuries. It is located in East Walton. The church is primarily constructed of flint, with some carstone, limestone and brick, featuring stone dressings and a concrete pantile roof.

The building comprises a round west tower, a nave, a chancel, and a south porch. The 12th-century tower is built of small, uncoursed flints with a variety of other materials, topped with a rendered embattled parapet featuring a string course and gargoyles. A small lancet window is found on the west side, with a semi-circular headed window above that is partly blocked. There’s a bell opening with two uncusped pointed lights set under a 4-centred arch with a hoodmould.

The north and south sides of the nave are similar, with carstone at the base, a string course above, and diagonal buttresses. Each side features three Perpendicular windows, each with three ogee-headed lights. These windows have tracery consisting of two mouchettes above the outer lights, a super transom, and a mullion above the central light. Opposite these windows are doorways with continuous moulding and a hoodmould.

The south porch is made of broken flint with diagonal buttresses, round shafts with polygonal imposts, and a moulded arch above with continuous outer moulding. It includes stone benches and returns with two-light openings featuring panel tracery – the eastern opening is lost.

The chancel has a green slate roof, a gable parapet, a cross, and rendered flint walls. It’s distinguished by a five-light Perpendicular east window with stepped lights under a 4-centred arch. The south chancel features a renewed basket-headed priest’s door, alongside two Perpendicular openings with two and three-lights. The north chancel has a single two-light Perpendicular opening.

Inside, the nave has a ceiled roof, supported by nine stone corbels carved in the form of heads, which were originally used for wall posts of an earlier roof. A tall chancel arch, partly blocked, has polygonal jambs, with arches to the east and west featuring deeply carved foliage. A wooden chancel arch from the 18th century has a semi-circular head and reeded jambs. The chancel features a renewed crown post roof. Rear arches of the east and south windows are moulded, with the east arch featuring figure and foliage stops; a dropped rear arch to the south window is also present, alongside a recess with a shelf. A triangular stone pediment sits over the priest’s door, bearing a Tudor rose within a hexafoil, and traceried spandrels.

Four 18th-century Tournai marble heraldic ledger slabs commemorate “The Honble. Wm. Lord Richardson Barond of Cramond in North Brittain” (1719) and his family. 18th-century nave fittings include a three-decker pine pulpit with L hinges and decorative panel headings, five contemporary panelled box pews, and leaded crown glass glazing dating before 1801. A Hanoverian canvas achievement is displayed on the west wall. The octagonal font dates from the 14th century, featuring splayed faces with quatrefoils. A large tortoise stove is also present.