Church Of St Olave

The Church of St Olave is a parish church dating to the 13th century, with additions and alterations made throughout its history. The nave and south porch are from the 13th century, a tower was added in the 15th century, and the chancel was rebuilt in the 19th century, with a belfry added in the early 20th century. The nave and south porch are constructed from greensand rubble, the chancel from coursed greensand rubble, and the tower from greensand ashlar. The roof is tiled, with stone slabs covering the south porch.

The west tower is of three stages, featuring offset buttresses and bands between stages. The bell stage has double lancet bell openings with pierced screens, topped with a crenellated parapet and water spouts. The west window is traceried, incorporating three triple arches with lancets above. A gabled south porch features stone coping, kneelers, and a grotesque mask saddlestone with a cross above, with a pointed arched doorway. The porch roof is composed of reused timbers originating from H.M.S. Thunderer, a warship that fought at Trafalgar, and were incorporated in 1910. The nave has buttresses and two 15th-century windows with double cinquefoil-headed lights above and four trefoil-headed lights above, with a lancet window at the centre of the buttresses. The north side features triangular buttresses and one elaborate 15th-century window with two cinquefoil lights. The chancel has two bays with trefoil-headed windows, a plinth, and a band. The east window consists of three arches with three circles above and a drip moulding. A small, early 20th-century vestry is constructed from greensand rubble with a hipped tiled roof and mullioned windows.

Inside the tower, the tierceron star roof has a central opening for bell ropes. A font of Purbeck marble features an octagonal bowl with flat blank arches on each side, alongside two marble wall plaques dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The nave has four bays and a 19th-century roof with a double row of through purlins and arched braces. A chest tomb commemorates C. Grant Seely (died 1917) and holds a recumbent effigy of a young soldier sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock. Fragments of original medieval stained glass depicting angels are present in the south nave window. The 13th-century chancel arch has a pointed arch resting on octagonal piers, flanked by 20th-century pointed arches. The chancel roof, dating to approximately 1865, is an arch-braced boarded roof with through purlins. Further interior features include a piscina and triple 19th-century sedillia, a credence table, and a Jacobean altar. A fine early 14th-century oak effigy of a knight, depicted cross-legged with a lion at his feet and an angel at his head (with the face and angel recut by village craftsmen), is located in the south wall. The church holds significant 19th-century stained glass, including “The Last Supper and the Two Marys at the Sepulchre” and “The Ascension” by William Morris (in the north wall), “The Crucifixion” by Rossetti (in the east window), "The Entombment" by Ford Madox Brown (in the east window), “The Lamb and Angels” (in the east window), and “The Baptism” by Burne-Jones (in the south wall).