Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church, largely dating to the 14th century, with a tower base of an earlier period. The church is constructed of flint, partly rendered, with limestone dressings, and has a slate roof covering the nave and chancel. A round west tower, possibly pre-Conquest, is set not co-axially with the main church body. The tower has restored, tall, late 13th-century bell openings featuring Y tracery, alongside lancet windows at lower levels, some with a continuous roll moulding. A renewed lancet window is present on the west side, above which is a blocked opening with an ogee hood mould and crocketed finial. The tower is topped with a red brick parapet.

The nave and chancel are combined, exhibiting good 14th-century fenestration, mainly 2-light windows with cusped Y tracery, some with ogee heads to the lights. A 14th-century south doorway and a priests' door are located on the south wall of the chancel, which features a continuous cill band, stepping up to the raised cill of the south-east window. Staged buttresses with stone dressings, including diagonal buttresses to the east wall, are present. The east window is a 5-light reticulated design with a hood mould terminating in headstops. Above the east window is a blocked niche with a cusped head. A staged buttress is located on the north chancel wall where it meets the nave, alongside a brick projection for rood stairs. A blocked 14th-century north doorway is set within flintwork, with a hood mould and head stops.

Inside, the nave and chancel ceilings are plastered. The windows have internal hoodmoulds on headstops, and the chancel window reveals have attached shafts. The north and south doors have shallow segmental heads with hoods and head stops. A blocked high-level opening to the tower is visible in the west wall of the nave, featuring a pointed arch with plain imposts. The tower arch is pointed and reduced, with an elliptical face on the east side. Three irregular niches are set into the north wall of the nave between the windows. A rood stair is located at the north-east corner of the nave, featuring a doorway and a tall opening leading to the loft. The south-east corner of the nave incorporates a piscina. A dado moulding runs within the nave’s plaster. An 18th-century tie beam spans the junction of the nave and chancel, supported on Ionic pilasters. A continuous cill band is found around the chancel interior. Located within the south-east corner of the chancel is a double piscina with clustered shafts, an ogee and cusped Y-tracery head under a crocketted ogee head mould with headstops, accompanied by triple sedilia with similar detailing and crocketted hoods with ball flower and head stops. The north-east chancel window is blocked. A low tomb recess is present in the north chancel wall, featuring an ogee and crocketed head. A wall monument to Edward Wigg, who died in 1825, is located on the south wall of the nave. The font, dating to the 13th century, sits on two octagonal risers, boasting a tapered octagonal bowl with shallow arcading on an octagonal stem and eight shafts, all crafted from Purbeck marble.