Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a medieval parish church built in flint with stone dressings and lead roofs. The church comprises a 5-bay nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, vestry, and an embattled west tower. It was constructed in stages: the early 14th-century west tower and chancel came first, followed by the nave, north and south aisles probably shortly after 1437 when 200 marks was bequeathed for 'the makyng of a newe chyrche'. The north and south porches date to the 15th century.

The west tower is embattled and features ashlar angle buttresses to the west, with a stair incorporated into the northern buttress and lit by slit lights. A stone plinth runs around the building. A doorway has been inserted to the north of the tower above which sits a single cusped light with an outer chamfered order; a similar light exists to the south. The west window, probably of around 1440 but restored in the 19th century, comprises 3 ogee-headed lights with mullions rising to the head of the arch, panel tracery, and a hood mould. This tracery pattern is repeated throughout the church, mostly restored in the 19th century. The ringing chamber has single cusped lights with outer chamfered orders on the north, south and west faces. Bell-openings feature Y-tracery with outer chamfered orders. The tower displays flushwork battlements and gargoyles, with 17th-century pinnacles at the corners.

The west windows to both aisles follow the same pattern as the tower west window and have sill bands. The nave is 5 bays long. A buttressed south porch attached to the first nave bay is now blocked and used as a cupboard. It has shafts with polygonal capitals and a chamfered arch with a hollow continuous to inner and outer orders and a hood mould. A cusped niche sits above it with a square hood. The east and west walls of the porch each have a window with 2 cusped lights under a square hood mould; the western window has a sill band. The buttressed aisles feature diagonal buttresses and each contains 4 windows with the tracery pattern used elsewhere. East windows to the aisles follow the same pattern. A clerestorey with 5 windows each on the north and south sides features 2 cusped lights and panel tracery set under 4-centred arches with hood moulds. A window to the east nave gable repeats the clerestorey tracery pattern. A rood stair to the north occupies the angle between the nave and chancel.

The buttressed chancel has sill bands to the south with tracery matching the tower west window. To either side of the eastern window the sill band drops to accommodate flushwork. A priests door has a continuous double chamfer and hood mould. A vestry adjoins the north chancel and incorporates some early brick quoins; a 19th-century north window and an eastern lancet are present. The restored east window comprises 4 lights with intersecting tracery, a hood mould, and a sill band which drops to accommodate flushwork.

A buttressed porch is attached to the first north aisle bay and is probably contemporary with the aisle construction. It has blocked 2-light windows with some tracery visible under 4-centred arches to the east and west. Its north face is of ashlar. The archway features 3 shafts on tall bases with a hollow and fillet between each pair; the capitals are polygonal and the middle shaft is continuous. The nave doorway is similarly detailed with tall bases. The nave arcades span 5 bays and comprise 4 clustered shafts on tall bases with a continuous roll between them, supporting slightly flattened arches. Aisle windows are set within these arcades, allowing for stone benches now fitted with 19th-century tiles. A stoup stands beside the north door. The nave and aisles have restored arch-braced roofs; the aisles feature an embattled wall-plate with tracery in the spandrels. The nave roof now rests on stone corbels, probably formerly supported on timber shafts of which only the capitals remain. The tower and chancel arches match the arcade style. The chancel has an arch-braced roof.

The interior contains a piscina and drop-sill sedilia. Some poppy-head benches remain. A 4-centred arch doorway to the rood loft has figures in the spandrels with traces of paint. An octagonal font features crocketted panels with ogee heads to the base and rosettes to the frames of plain panels on the bowl.