Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a medieval parish church located in South Wootton. It is constructed primarily of uncoursed carstone rubble, with some erratics, brick sandstone, flint, and limestone, and has a plain tiled roof. A northwest tower, extended in 1985, rises above a nave, chancel, and north and south chapel transepts, with a south porch.

The three-stage tower was rebuilt around 1890 using galletted carstone and brick dressings, topped with a pyramidal roof concealed behind an embattled parapet. It features a semi-circular headed west window and bell openings, with oblong slits at the second stage. A wide buttress to the north incorporates some 11th-century stone quoins and iron conglomerate. The north side of the nave has no windows, and brick eaves courses are visible. A small, blocked north doorway has a plain pointed chamfered arch.

The north transept is canted to the west, its roof continuous with the nave roof. It is covered with gault tiles, and features a three-light window to the north and a two-light window to the northwest, both with trefoil-headed lights. A large lean-to structure of 1896 now serves as a vestry, extending across the north chancel wall, constructed of carstone with dark limestone ashlar dressings and a green slate roof. This addition features two large, low, plain, three-light windows to the north, one to the east, and a large doorway to the right with a hollow chamfered surround.

The 13th-century chancel has stone-dressed angle buttresses, a gable cross, and a gable parapet. A tall four-light east window incorporates Decorated tracery, and a central buttress supports the south chancel, alongside a Y-tracery window to the right. The south transept mirrors the north, with a diagonal buttress to the east. Two three-light windows are present in the south nave, partly renewed. The windowless south porch features broken flintwork at the front, with the upper part of the porch arch renewed, and is now sealed. A single-storey extension was added in 1985 to the south and west of the tower. A new entrance to the church is now through the west wall of the nave, accessible from the 1985 addition. Remains of 11th-century stone quoins are visible on the left jamb. An archway of 1985 in the south wall provides access to the tower and a nave gallery.

Inside, the double hollow chamfered chancel arch has polygonal shafts, and the hollow chamfered jambs have trefoil stops. An early 14th-century arcade contains a piscina and three stepped sedilia, characterized by ogee moulded shafts and arches with trefoil heads. The north and south chapels have shafts at the arris to the nave. Aumbry and a 14th-century trefoil-headed piscina with figure stops of a male and female are located in the south chapel. A 11th-century square font, adorned with grotesques at the angles on nine columns, stands within the church. A rendered altar tomb in the north chancel displays heraldic achievements and pilasters, with a shelly marble slab commemorating Thomas Winde (1603). The nave roof dates to the 1880s and is constructed of pine, with hammer beams and arch braces to collars. The chancel roof is boarded. A west gallery, inserted in 1985, incorporates a 19th-century balustrade of Romanesque style, made from wood salvaged from the church of St. Matthew, Norwich. A bier dated 1611, positioned within the gallery, features a hooped hearse with long rails painted with biblical texts.