Church Of St Petronilla

The Church of St Petronilla is a mediaeval church, extensively restored in 1869. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, a south porch, and a north vestry. The church is constructed of flint rubble walls, largely rendered, with limestone dressings. The porch is of knapped flintwork. The roofs are plaintiled, except for the slated vestry, and the nave has large riven slates. Parapet gables top the building.

The square chancel arch piers date from the late 11th or 12th century, with roll-moulded jambs. The arch itself was rebuilt in 1869 with chevron mouldings, although some original voussoirs were reused in a 19th-century doorway within the tower staircase. Late 13th-century two-light windows with quatrefoil heads are found in the nave. Alterations in the mid-14th century include two-light windows with Y-tracery in the nave and chancel, and a three-light east window. Nave windows on both sides have piscina bowls cut into the dropped sills, and there are integral steps up to a former rood loft on the south side. A chancel piscina is also present, along with moulded south doorways to both the nave and chancel. These have good 19th-century battened and boarded doors, the nave door being traceried.

The gabled south porch was almost entirely rebuilt in the early 20th century, but retains lower sections of 14th-century flint rubble walling with limestone quoins. The arched doorway is renewed, except for the lower jambs. An original stoup is set into the south wall. The 15th-century tower has a moulded west doorway and a three-light traceried window above, flanked by cinquefoiled niches. The upper level of the tower was altered, possibly in 1582 - a date is scratched onto a southeast buttress - with two-light belfry openings.

19th-century alterations include a reconstructed hammerbeam roof in the nave, and the addition of a gabled vestry against the 14th-century north doorway. The 19th-century pulpit incorporates two early 17th-century arcaded panels with marquetry inlay. Fragments of assorted mediaeval stained glass have been reset in roundels in the south chancel window. Wall tablets in the chancel commemorate Johannes Ryley (died 1673) and General Sir Francis Hammond (died 1850). The chancel also contains two tomb-slabs of Purbeck marble, likely from the 14th century, and six 18th-century black marble floor slabs.