Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a building of group value, dating to the 13th century with significant additions and alterations in the 14th and 19th centuries. The church comprises a chancel, a nave, a south porch, a north aisle, a vestry, and a west tower, constructed in 1873 by J.W. Hugall. The materials are rendered with Bath stone and chalk dressings; the 1873 additions are of flint with Bath stone dressings and lacing courses, all set beneath tiled roofs.

The two-stage west tower has low 19th-century buttresses. The lower stage, dating to the 13th century, features a depressed arched doorway to the west with quatrefoils in the spandrels and a carved hood mould. Above it are three small lancet windows. The 14th-century bell stage features diagonal buttresses, a battlemented parapet, and two-light openings with quatrefoils in the heads on all sides. A string course runs between the stages, incorporating corner gargoyles. The tower also has a clock to the east, and a cupola topped with a weathervane.

The nave’s south side has two paired lancet windows and two single lancets, all with hood moulds. A semicircular arched south doorway has a single order and cushion capitals. A gabled south porch has a cross at its apex, a moulded arch, and low clasping buttresses. The north aisle contains four lancet windows.

The 13th-century chancel has a string course running at the base of the lancets. Its east end has triple lancets with a continuous roll moulding and a hood mould. The north and south walls contain paired lancets with hollow mouldings. A door and a 15th-century square-headed window with two ogee lights break through the string course to the southwest. Two low buttresses stand to the east.

The vestry has a window to the east with two ogee lights, and a doorway with a hood mould.

Inside, the nave has a five-bay arcade to the north with round piers, moulded capitals, chamfered arches, and hood moulds with carved stops. The tower and chancel arches are of a similar style. The chancel’s triple lancets have a continuous roll moulding and shafts with stiff leaf capitals and moulded bases. A central arch-braced tie beam has traceried spandrels. Other interior features include a 19th-century piscina with a hood mould, a Jacobean pulpit with blank arches and arabesques, and a 15th-century font with an octagonal bowl.

Several monuments are located within the church, including a Fincher monument of 1688 in the chancel, a Triggs monument of 1723 and Hillman and Spicer monuments of 1745 in the nave.