Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a church built between 1952 and 1954, designed by Sir Edward Maufe. It features painted brick construction with internal concrete vaulting and a low-pitched red pantiled roof that has falling eaves. The interior is rendered, and the church has a traditional layout that includes a nave, aisles, a western gallery, and a narrower chancel and sanctuary. The chancel is located beneath a low eastern tower, with the sanctuary extending into a polygonal apse.

The church is designed in an austere Perpendicular Gothic style, refined in a personal way by Maufe. The aisles are supported by diagonal buttresses, and the west end has a square-headed entrance set within a giant pointed arch that is deeply moulded. This entrance contains a west window and features a short rectangular bell turret to the north-west. The aisle windows are square-headed, with four lights, timber frames, and rectangular leaded lights. The tower has paired pointed windows and an inset clock, topped with a pyramidal roof.

Inside, the church has painted, unmoulded transverse arches and arcades that rise from square piers, lacking capitals. The altar is positioned forward in the sanctuary, accompanied by stone sedilia to the side under a shallow arch. The sanctuary has a pointed ceiling decorated with stars, and there are limed oak altar rails and choir benches. The original built-in pulpit is polygonal, rendered, and dressed in stone, located on the north side of the chancel arch. A side chapel features a cross-shaped east window, also with limed oak altar rail and stone fittings. The cylindrical stone font, which tapers slightly at the base, is decorated at the lip with a wave motif and has a light timber cover. The church also includes a western gallery.

Overall, the Church of St Mary is an attractive building with a sculptural quality to its interior, representing a notable example of Maufe's post-war work and showcasing his ability to design effectively on a smaller scale.