Church of St. Laurence

The Church of St. Laurence dates from the early 12th century, with substantial additions and alterations in the late 12th century. Significant restoration and additions occurred between 1850 and 1851 by Benjamin Ferrey, with further alterations to the tower in 1906 and an additional vestry in 1910. The construction combines uncoursed rubblestone and pudding stone (ferricrete) with dressings of Bath stone ashlar. The roofs are tiled, with separate coverings for the nave and aisle, and a timber bellcote with a hipped roof sits at the east end of the aisle. The church comprises a nave, south aisle, central tower, chancel, and south vestry.

The tower is of two stages, topped with a cornice, coped parapet, and a low pyramidal cap featuring a weathervane. The bellstage has small, rectangular, louvred openings to the north and south, while the first stage has small, rectangular windows to the north.

The north side of the nave features four round arched windows, with a two-light window of the 15th century to the left. There is evidence of a blocked round arched window between the second and third windows from the left, and a blocked or reset doorway beneath it. A round arched doorway, featuring chevron decoration, a single order of shafts, nook shafts, and a boarded door, is positioned between the third and fourth windows from the left. The west front incorporates two three-light windows with returned hoodmoulds, and an arched window in the gable end above.

The south aisle has three round arched windows and a two-light window to the right, also with a returned hoodmould. A round arched doorway, featuring three orders of shafts with cushion capitals, a heavy gabled stone surround with a circular window in the apex, and a boarded door, is situated between the first and second windows from the left.

The east end has a two-light window incorporating a quadrefoil in the plate tracery above. The west end features two lancets, along with a circular window in the gable end above.

The chancel has two bays and includes strip buttresses. It contains two round arched windows to the north and south, and two round arched east windows with a blocked circular window above and a round arched window in the apex.

The vestry is characterised by four round arched windows to the east and a boarded door to the south.

Internally, the church features a five-bay 15th-century crown post nave roof and a four-bay 19th-century south aisle arcade with circular piers and pointed arches. The tower arches are round, with scalloped imposts, while the two-bay stone vaulted chancel has scalloped capitals and painted ribs.

Notable fittings include a 12th-century circular stone font with blind arcading, a 19th-century octagonal stone font, a coat of arms on the south wall, a reset 15th-century wooden archway at the east end of the south aisle with shafts, cusping, and dogtooth ornament, and a 15th-century alabaster Trinity on the south wall of the tower.

Monuments present include a brass of an early 16th-century knight with two wives, a brass commemorating E. Bulstrade and his wife of 1599, and a Greek tablet of 1822 by J. Theakston dedicated to Sir William Herschel, the astronomer. The grave of George Fordham, a champion jockey who died in 1887 at the age of 50 with 2,500 race wins, is located in the churchyard. Tradition holds that Thomas Grey wrote his Elegy within the church.