Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church, now redundant, built in 1853-1854 by W.J. Donthorn. It is constructed of knapped flint rubble with stone dressings, featuring fish-scale pattern slate roofs with crested ridges. The church comprises a four-bay nave and a north porch, a two-bay chancel, and a north vestry. The design reflects an "archaeological" Gothic Revival style with 14th-century Decorated details. The west front features a two-light window with stone tracery and a drip mould, with a lancet above. Eaves kneelers and a coped parapet are present, along with buttresses dividing the bays and marking the angles. The nave has three blocked or open south lancets and two north lancets. The north porch has boarded double doors and a gabled roof, with a stone eaves string course. The east gable includes a coped parapet and a two-arch bell-cote at the apex, also with a coped parapet gable. The chancel has a single three-light Decorated east window. Fish-scale and cresting tiles have been largely replaced. A gabled north vestry is attached. The interior nave roof displays arch braced principals on stone corbels, bearing painted heraldry representing the historic lords of the manor and contemporary donors. A Norman font, retained from the earlier church, is rectangular in plan and features angle colonnettes and a knot motif interlace on one face. A contemporary stained-glass east window, possibly by William Wailes, is present. The church was built in six months, from June 1853 to January 1854, by the Syderstone building firm Harper and Sons, and was gifted by the Rev. Stephen Reed Cattley, the incumbent, and two Norfolk gentry families, the Chads and Tomlinsons, replacing a partly medieval building.