Church Of St Mary Magdalene

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is a Grade I listed parish church built in 1678 by Robert Hooke for Dr. Busby, the headmaster of Westminster School. It features a west tower, a nave, and a 19th-century apse. The church is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, including plinth coping, chamfered quoins, architraves, and cills to the windows, along with moulded cornices and copper roofs.

The tower has two main stages. The upper stage is adorned with stone Corinthian pilasters at the corners, supporting an entablature and a parapet topped with stone pineapples on plinths. Each face of the tower has a tall arched upper window above a smaller segmental-headed window. The lower stage features chamfered quoins and a large recessed arched doorway on the ground floor, which is approached by a flight of semi-circular stone steps, with a round window situated above the doorway. Flanking the tower are one-storey sections that have windows on the outer face and a parapet on the west side that sweeps up to the tower, also topped with a pineapple on the outer corner.

The nave has a pedimented eastern end with a bull's eye window in the tympanum and three tall arched windows on the north and south sides. The apse, added in 1862, uses similar materials and has three matching windows. Inside, the church boasts elaborate plaster decoration, a panelled dado, and pews. The floor of the nave features a diagonal pattern of white stone and black tiles. The contemporary pulpit on the south side of the nave has been slightly altered, and the reading desk is supported by an elaborate panel of wrought iron. The organ case is likely from the same period. The font is made of white marble, carved with cherub heads and drapery, standing on a green Irish marble baluster, and topped with an ogee-shaped wooden cover intricately carved with swags of fruit and flowers, finished with a vase finial.