Church of St. Mary

The Church of St. Mary is a medieval parish church constructed primarily in the 14th century, with later alterations. It is located in Worstead and is designated a building of group value. The church is built of quaternary flint, chert, and Lincolnshire limestone with a lead roof.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, a chancel, and a vestry. The four-stage west tower is of flint construction, featuring setback buttresses. A flushwork basecourse of cusped arches is present, above which is a stone frieze of quatrefoil relief and a cusped intersecting blind arcade of flushwork. The west door has encircled quatrefoil roundels in the spandrels, with niches on each side; a castellated label serves as the sill for the four-light, Decorated window, largely reconstructed in the 19th century. Square lights with tracery are found in the ringing chamber, with a hood mould above; a clock is now set into the east face. Two-light windows with panel tracery are set in the bell openings, with ballflowers in one order, and a continuous hood mould. Stone battlements incorporate quatrefoil and cusped arches in relief, and there are gargoyles.

The buttressed nave consists of five bays and features a basecourse pattern repeated from the tower. The windows are three-light with panel tracery, and the angle buttresses incorporate flushwork. A flushwork parapet tops the nave. A north doorway is traceried; an exterior rood stair is present with flushwork detailing. A clerestory features two three-light windows under four-centred arches in each bay. Flying buttresses support the two easternmost bays; the sixth aisle bays form chapels. A four-centred arch window is found on the east wall of the south chapel. The chancel has two bays without a decorative base, and contains a C19 three-light window. The five-light east window has reticulated tracery and brick voussoirs. A two-storey, buttressed vestry is situated at the east end of the north aisle chapel, with single-light ground floor windows and a three-light window under a four-centred arch to the east. The south porch is two-storey, leading to the second nave bay, and features a south west stair turret with repaired stonework. Flushwork is present on the south face, along with angle buttresses. A tierceron star vault is found on the ground floor of the porch, and the doorway to the nave has fleurons in two orders of jamb and arch.

Inside, the nave arcades are from the 14th century, and feature octagonal piers and hollow-chamfered arches. Angel corbels supporting shields are visible on the hammerbeam roof, which was largely restored in 1899. A previous roof line is visible above the tower arch. The aisles have arch-braced roofs with tracery in the spandrels. The west tower arch comprises clustered shafts with hollows. Octagonal shafts support the chancel arch. The chancel has an arch-braced roof. A stone altar, reredos and altar rails were all added in the 1840s. A figure brass dates to 1391. The rood screen is dated 1512, with heavily restored upper sections. The rood beam was removed in 1809. Screenwork to the chapels has been extensively restored. The tower screen dates to 1501 and was repainted in the lower sections in 1831; it supports a ringers gallery. The font is on three steps, with a panelled stem and an octagonal bowl featuring cusped quatrefoils, supported by angels. A board above the south nave door records a benefaction by the Rev. Henry Wharton, which funded the re-pewing in 1736. Box pews are present in the nave, with high back walls and quadrant pilasters at the corners.