Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church largely of the 14th and 15th centuries, situated in Offton. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and a south porch. The main fabric is of flint rubble, with plastering present, though the east chancel wall is of knapped flint dating to 1861. Stone dressings are used, and the roofs are plain-tiled, with a parapet gable at the east end. The round-arched south door is a 12th-century feature, representing the original core of the building. The eastern chancel window is a 3-light dagger-traceried design, restored or rebuilt in 1861. Several 2-light side windows feature curvilinear tracery. A simple chancel piscina and a stoup are located inside the south door, alongside a north doorway. The south porch is of timber construction, set upon a mid-20th century brick plinth, and displays a heavy 2-centred doorway with ogee sidelights and cusped bargeboards. The mullioned windows flanking the doorway possess differing tracery patterns and the tie-beam and wall-plates retain characteristic 14th-century mouldings. The west tower is largely mid-14th century, with a 2-light window containing good tracery and grotesque corbels. A quatrefoil sanctus bell window is also present. The upper stage of the tower was remodelled or rebuilt around 1500, with battlemented parapets featuring flushwork panels displaying traceried heads, and belfry windows with tracery also of this date, surmounted by grotesque gargoyles. Around 1500, the nave was re-roofed in 3 bays, exhibiting unusual long square crownposts with ribbed corners, moulded capitals and bases, and 4-way knee braces. The cornice is embattled and moulded, with the tie-beams incorporating shafted wall-pieces bearing arch-braces featuring leaf carved spandrels. Two opposing nave windows are of stuccoed brick with heavy hoodmoulds and differing early 16th-century tracery. An early 16th-century south priest’s door bears graffiti dated 1586 on a jamb. Sections of a carved 14th or 15th-century roodscreen have survived; one has been adapted into choirstalls, the other is located within the tower. Stairways leading to the former roodloft are present within the north wall. A fine limestone font from around 1500 displays an octagonal bowl adorned with angels holding shields and roses, additional supporting angels, and lions at the stem’s angles. An early 17th-century octagonal pulpit features arcaded panels. A north nave window contains original stained glass depicting the arms of De Bohun, former Lords of Offton Manor (1312-1377); other windows contain fragments of mediaeval glass. Later 19th-century stained glass is found in the chancel and tower. Marble floor slabs from 1682 and two others from the 18th century are within the chancel.