Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a medieval parish church. It comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, a north porch, and a north sacristy. The building is constructed of random flint and stone rubble, with the nave plastered at clerestory level. Stone dressings are present, along with a red brick sacristy and leaded roofs to the nave and a slated roof to the chancel.

The tower is a fine late 14th-century design with a later crenellated brick parapet. It features 3-stage diagonal buttresses to the west and angle buttresses against the north and south faces on the east side. A staircase turret rises above the parapet at the northeast corner. The west face of the tower has a moulded doorway with original doors, and a 3-light window with three large stepped niches above; 2-light bell chamber openings are also present.

The late 14th-century aisles have five bays each with 3-light windows. The clerestory, also with six bays, features original 2-light windows. An early 15th-century porch displays flushwork to the plinth and lower façade, with empty niches above the entrance and an original nave door. The early 14th-century chancel is three bays long and contains matching 3-light windows to the north and south, a 5-light east window, all with reticulated tracery and hood moulds with carved stops; an original Priest’s doorway is on the south side. Internally, the windows are shafted and have hood moulds, both with finely carved capitals and stops.

A two-story, mid-15th-century sacristy, largely original, is located north of the chancel. Five-bay aisle arcades have octagonal piers; the eastern bays of the north and south aisles serve as the Lady Chapel and Bardolph Chapel, respectively. The nave has an early 14th-century single framed and braced roof, while the aisle roofs are original lean-to structures. The south window recess of the Bardolph Chapel displays fine carved stonework forming a decorative canopy above a tomb chest. Stone shafts with candle platforms flank the window. The south chancel contains a piscina and sedilia with enriched triangular canopies.

The church’s furnishings are noteworthy, including a 15th-century font with a medieval cover, a set of richly carved 15th-century benches, box pews primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, a three-decker pulpit dating to 1628, exceptionally fine mid-15th-century parclose screens to both chapels, complete with lofts, a carved dado of a 15th-century rood screen, 18th-century altar rails, a pyx canopy from around 1500, Royal Arms of George III above the south door, and framed copies of the Lord’s Prayer, Creed, and Commandments from 1842 in the south aisle.

The Bardolph Chapel houses the tomb of Lord Bardolph (d.1441) and his wife, featuring a fine carved alabaster tomb chest with recumbent effigies. A good wall monument to Sir Thomas Rous (d.1603) is also present in the chapel. Five chancel windows retain some good medieval stained glass. It is graded I for the quality of the medieval fabric and furnishings.