Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church of the 13th, 14th and largely 15th centuries, comprising a west tower, nave and aisles, south porch, chancel and north chapel. The building is constructed of rubble and knapped flint with a slated nave and chancel and leaded aisle roofs.

The rectangular west tower dates to the 14th century and stands on a stone plinth with quoined angle buttresses featuring set offs. A 4-light window with Reticulated tracery occupies the west face, with a drip mould strip at its base and arch springing. Lancets light the upper chamber, while the belfry stage contains four 2-light windows with Decorated tracery. The tower has moulded eaves but no parapet. An earlier, taller roof line is visible on the tower's east face.

The south porch features a re-positioned 14th-century arch of rich moulding with half columns, while the north door is a simple 14th-century example with splayed and richly moulded arch. The porch has angle buttresses and a triangular gable with an ogee niche containing "MR" monograms in flushwork on the returns. Decayed angle finials and the base of a central finial or cross survive. Two 2-light windows open to north and south.

The five-bay aisles are Perpendicular in style. The south aisle is supported by four right-angle and one set-off angle cutstone buttresses; the north by four right angles and two set-off angle buttresses. East and west aisle windows are 14th-century with 3-light Reticulated tracery; four north and south windows are 3-light Perpendicular. Five clerestorey windows on north and south are 3-light Perpendicular tracery above a five-bay Perpendicular clerestorey.

The nave has an east gable with two set-off buttresses and a 3-light Perpendicular gable window. The chancel, begun in the 13th century and enlarged later, contains two circa 1300 south windows with "Y" tracery and trefoil heads. One 3-light Perpendicular window to the west has a drip mould with label stop heads. Evidence of a blocked window or former extension lies to the south. The east gable is buttressed and features a circa 1300 5-light window with switch tracery.

The knapped flint north chancel chapel has a 3-light east window with Reticulated tracery of opposed interlaced ogees, moulded frame and drip mould head. An early Perpendicular 2-light north window features a battlemented transom. Two angle buttresses support the structure. The chancel north side contains two simple "Y" tracery windows.

Interior

The five-bay north and south arcades are Perpendicular with double hollow-chamfered arches; the outer arch sits on an uninterrupted splay while the inner arch has a moulded capital. Octagonal seat bases support moulded semi-octagonal inner orders with knobbed bases to the outer.

The nave and aisles retain their 15th-century roofs of five bays. The nave features single hammerbeams with angels supporting arched braces, semi-octagonal wall posts with moulded bases and capitals, and an arched braced wall plate with traceried spandrels, cove and brattishing. Moulded through purlins and a central ridge with bosses run the length of the roof. The aisle roofs, also of five bays, have moulded arched braces with traceried spandrels and brattishing, supported by semi-octagonal wall posts with moulded bases and capitals set on 15th-century stone brackets; angels with scrolls adorn these. Moulded ridge and a central rafter occupy each bay, with coving against outer and inner walls featuring brattishing. The north aisle has an extra arched, traceried half-bay over its east end.

The 14th-century tower arch has a trefoil section above, a half pier and two angle quarter piers with moulded bases and capitals, and a double hollow-chamfered arch. A circa 1300 tower arch of complex section features central half columns and flanking colonnettes with rectangular fillets between, surmounted by a richly moulded arch with two label stop heads (the label above is cut away). A 19th-century recut base masks original capitals. To the east, the upper section of a southern pier rests on a 13th-century moulded corbel, perhaps originally intended to house a rood screen below towards the chancel. A fine tripartite polychrome 14th-century screen with traceried dado and gates features north and south lights with traceried heads and a central ogee tracery arch with trefoil infilling, with delicate upper tracery throughout. A 4-centred rood stairs arch to the south carries an in situ boarded door and a first-floor roof loft arch above. A 2-light Perpendicular squint at the north has a painted reverse side beneath a 4-centred arch with moulded intrados, spandrels and drip mould.

The chancel contains moulded 2-column sedilia with a 15th-century replacement carved lintel between featuring winged angels and rosettes. An angle piscina at the north is attached to a 13th-century angle colonnette with stiff-leaf capital. The east window has a moulded internal arch with colonnettes topped by stiff-leaf capitals. A moulded 14th-century north door features label stop heads.

The furnishings include a 14th- and 15th-century hexagonal painted goblet pulpit with tracery panels and a mutilated, illegible 15th-century octagonal seven-sacrament font set on two levels of octagonal steps. Much in situ tracery of 14th- and 15th-century glass survives in the lights of the south aisle east window, north aisle east and west windows, and two north aisle north windows. A tower arch screen dates to circa 1900; the chancel arch rood beam dates to circa 1920 and was designed for other churches.