Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church largely of medieval origin, with significant alterations from the mid-19th century. It comprises a nave, chancel, a south-west tower/porch, a north chapel, and a vestry. A church room was added to the north of the nave around 1980. The church is constructed of flint rubble with freestone dressings; a considerable amount of the fabric incorporates random blocks of reused, moulded stone. The nave clerestory and vestry feature red brickwork dating to approximately 1500. The roofs are covered in plain tiles with parapet gables. The tower has a flat roof concealed behind a 19th-century battlemented parapet.

The chancel incorporates late 13th-century work, including a south doorway, sedilia with tall shafts and pierced trefoils, a cusped piscina, and a large niche, possibly an aumbry, on the opposite side. The nave was rebuilt in the 14th century, along with the tower, which includes a porch at ground floor level. Both nave doorways are hood-moulded, both internally and externally, and feature grotesque corbels. There are numerous Y-traceried windows. Later in the 14th century, a two-bay chapel was added to the north side of the nave, subsequently extended. Around 1500, the nave walls were raised using red brick to accommodate a seven-bay hammerbeam roof, with clerestory windows in each bay. The hammerbeams and cornice are crenellated; the upper part of the roof was renewed in the 19th century with king-posts on collarbeams, at which time the angel figures were replaced.

A four-light window of approximately 1525 is located in the vestry; it features a terracotta frame and mullions with early Renaissance moulding. Commissioned by the Bacon family and executed by Italian craftsmen, it is considered less well-balanced in composition compared to similar, finer examples at Shrubland Hall and Henley Church, potentially due to the use of surplus components. A window in 13th-century style was inserted in the east wall, and a window in 14th-century style in the west wall, both during the mid-19th century.

The Middleton Chapel contains a finely carved section of a 15th-century rood screen, presumably removed from the chancel arch in the 18th century and supplemented with contemporary panelling. The 19th-century pulpit also incorporates traceried and coloured panels from the same rood screen. Italian carved altar rails are dated 1700, and a set of panels painted with the Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and the Creed from the same date are positioned nearby. There is a set of five plain 16th-century poppyhead benches in the nave. Within the chancel is an elaborate 15th-century recessed and canopied table monument with a cusped and crocketed ogee-arched head. A wall monument commemorates Sir Richard Southwell, who died in 1640; it features effigies of him and his wife. A brass memorial is set into the chancel floor, commemorating Robert Southwell (died 1514). Further floor slabs from 1629 and seven others dating to the late 17th and early 18th centuries are located in the chancel and nave respectively. Five painted panels displaying coats of arms are affixed to the nave walls.