Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A church of exceptional architectural richness dating from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, with major 15th-century work and 19th-century additions. The building is constructed of flint rubble with ashlar dressings and has a lead and slate roof. It comprises a west tower, nave with south aisle, chancel, and north-eastern vestry.

The west tower is a particularly elaborate structure. Its west face features diagonal buttresses to the corners that die back through three offsets and rise to diamond-section crocketed pinnacles, with ashlar quoins at the outer and inner corners. A slightly projecting plinth is decorated with an arcade of rectangular flushwork panels, and chequerboard flushwork panels ornament the outer faces of the buttresses. The central doorway has a richly moulded surround incorporating cavetto and ogee moulds with a cavetto-moulded hood mould set with small fleurons, and ashlar and flint voussoirs above. A 19th-century ashlar shield in a square frame sits above this. The first stage has a two-light Perpendicular window with cinquefoil heads to the lights and panel tracery above, finished with a hood mould ending in figurehead label stops. Above this are recessed niches with blind tracery and an ogee cinquefoil head. The next stage features cusped lancets with square hood moulds, and above these sits a slightly domed circular metal clockface. A string course runs at the level of the belfry opening, which comprises three cinquefoil lights with panel tracery above. A further string course sits below the battlemented parapet with ashlar coping. The south and north faces are plainer, with the south face distinguished by a canted staircase turret at the right that dies back below the level of the belfry opening. The north face lacks this turret. A single quatrefoil light pierces the lower body of the north face.

The nave's south face contains an aisle of four bays and a particularly ornate porch positioned left of centre. The porch has a projecting plinth and rich flushwork decoration displaying shields with star surrounds, quatrefoils, mouchettes above encircled roundels, and crowned chalice and wafer motifs. Panels of flushwork tracery flank the central doorway, which has colonettes to its outer face and imposts with moulded bases and capitals. The arch incorporates cavetto, beek, and ogee moulds, with figures of St George and the dragon worked into the spandrels. Above the door are three canopied niches with miniature vaults and crocketed pinnacles. Blind tracery panels decorate the parapet of the shallow gable. The west face of the porch displays further arcaded panels of flushwork with a central two-light window having ogee heads and panel tracery. A gargoyle projects from the left side. The east face is plainer, built of knapped flint with a similar two-light window. To the left stands a three-light Perpendicular window with a rendered brick surround having cinquefoil heads to the lights and tracery. To the right are two ashlar window surrounds, also Perpendicular with cinquefoil heads and brattished transoms, divided by a buttress with two offsets. An eight-light clerestory runs across the south wall, each light being three-light windows with brattished transoms and cinquefoil heads, finished with continuous hood mould and brick voussoirs.

The nave's north face displays walling of rubble flint with herringbone work to the lower body. It is divided into three bays with half-bays at either end by buttresses that die back through three offsets, with a further buttress at the corner. The three central bays have paired clerestory windows, each of two lights and similar to those on the south face, with single clerestory windows at right and left. The three central bays each contain a single lower window; that at left is a two-light Y-tracery window with a renewed ashlar surround. To the right are two Perpendicular windows with cinquefoil heads to the lights and panel tracery above.

The chancel's south face contains two bays divided by a buttress with three offsets, each bay having a three-light window with cinquefoil heads similar to those of the south aisle. Between these bays and to the left of the buttress is a Romanesque window with colonettes to either side, each topped with a moulded capital featuring pointed leaf decoration, with a later pointed arch above carrying a hood mould and figurehead label stops. The north face displays a similar Perpendicular window to the right, with brick voussoirs, and to its left is a projecting single-storey gabled 19th-century vestry with a three-light window in a wooden frame to the gable end. The chancel's east end features diagonal buttresses and a central 19th-century Perpendicular window of four lights with cinquefoil heads and panel tracery. The east end of the south aisle has a three-light window with ogee trefoil heads and daggers to the tracery above.

The interior of the porch contains a roof of two bays with wall posts that originally carried pendant bosses, now lost. These connect via arch braces to the principals and purlins. Moulded common rafters and a cornice with fleurons and brattishing complete the roof. The church door is set in diapered walling with square ashlar panels, probably of 19th-century date. The door surround is chamfered and roll moulded, and the plank door carries a central domed knocker plate attached to a strap hinge similar to that of the Church of St Botolph at Burgh.

The nave roof comprises eight bays with four main and four subsidiary trusses. The subsidiary bays have tie beams that have been cut back to form false hammer beams. The wall posts are richly moulded and sawn off obliquely to their lower body. Arched braces connect these to the cambered tie beams, which feature brattished enrichment to their tops. Further arched braces rise from these to the principals. The subsidiary bays carry angel bosses attached to the ends of the sawn hammer beams; those nearest the chancel support a pair of German wooden angels of 17th-century date, while the other bays carry English Baroque winged cherubs' heads. Considerable painting survives to the roof, including chevrons and the sacred initials and monograms. The tower arch has an outer hollow chamfer and ogee mould, with an inner arch supported on semi-octagonal piers with moulded bases and caps, all beneath a wave-moulded arch.

The font is octagonal with an octagonal stem and bowl raised about two steps. The stem has buttressed corners and cherubs' heads below the bowl with interlacing wings. The panels of the bowl display roses in quatrefoils and shields, still showing some original colouring. The font is surmounted by a canopy of great richness and complexity comprising three stages, each with canopied niches containing image stools with painted backs and richly crocketed finials. The lowest level features a traceried overhanging lip on which rest miniature flying buttresses with tracery to their arches. The top is carved with a pelican in her piety with outstretched wings. The lowest tier telescopes up around the upper tiers. Seventeen benches with medieval ends line the nave. A rood screen, now reduced to its lower body, divides the nave and chancel, divided into pairs of panels by buttresses with painted figures of saints and tracery above. Three stalls, mainly rebuilt in the 19th century, carry misericords.

The chancel roof comprises six bays with moulded wall posts and arched braces connecting to the principals, with pendant posts rising from these to meet further arched braces descending to the brattished collar. Arched braces also rise to meet the upper and lower purlins, which are brattished to their tops. Shields on the lower level of the pendant beams, perhaps of 19th-century date, display representations of the implements of the passion. A richly moulded cornice features tracery, fleurons, and angels with outspread wings. The chancel floor has been raised at the eastern end. A medieval piscina to the lower body of the south-eastern window has a cusped round-headed arch opening into the choir and a half-arch to the window embrasure. Fragments of medieval stained glass survive in the east window with 19th-century additions depicting St Salome and St Anne. The chancel windows contain 17th-century English and German glass. Pamment tiling covers the nave and chancel, with fragments of medieval brasses now much worn.