Church of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church of 11th-century origin, extended in the 13th century and substantially restored in 1881 with a rebuilt west tower and new vestry. The building is constructed of ragstone with a plain tiled roof and features a timbered porch.

The church comprises a chancel with a north chapel and south vestry, a nave with a north aisle, a west tower, and a south porch. The single-stage west tower has a lower stage that is genuine 11th century work, though it bears 19th-century details including a shafted and zig-zag moulded doorway, coupled belfry openings, and a parapet on a corbel table.

The nave contains a restored two-light square-headed window with ogee tracery and a 19th-century three-light Decorated style window. The north aisle has three uneven-sized two-light windows with Y-tracery and a cusped lancet to the west. The chancel's east wall was largely rebuilt and now features a 19th-century triple lancet east window above the head of an 11th-century round-headed window. A 15th-century south window survives, and a short projecting 19th-century south vestry extends from this side. The north chapel has a 19th-century three-light east window with a plaque below recording Peter Holloway, died 1644, servant to Sir Edward Scott. A simple north door and a cusped two-light window in a quatrefoil light the north chapel further.

The south porch is weather-boarded with a cusped bargeboard and double wicket gate. Its interior features a crown post roof on cambered tie beams and a south doorway with shafted capitals bearing scalloped details, roll moulding, incised circles, and nailhead mouldings. Scratch dials mark the internal surface, and the fine plank and stud door retains bifurcated straps and hinges and C-straps of considerable age.

Inside, tall narrow doors to the west tower and south show fragments of chevron moulding in their restored surrounds. A three-bay north arcade of circa 1200 displays simple chamfered arches on abaci with nook shafts. The roof features three tall octagonal crown posts, and the chancel arch carries roll-moulded and chevron-moulded orders on moulded abaci supported by voluted nook shafts. The north aisle contains a blocked rood passage and a simple chamfered arch to the north chapel, with a roof of four octagonal crown posts. A wide squint opens to the north aisle, and the head of the 11th-century round-headed east window composition is visible from this vantage point. The north chapel features a hacked-off rood stair and doorways, including a square-headed north door, and a roof of two crown posts on chamfered tie beams. A plain arch connects to the north chapel, with a fragment of carved decoration surviving. A 19th-century roll-moulded door opens to the south vestry, and the ceiling is plastered.

Fittings in the chancel include some encaustic tiling, 20th-century wainscotting, and a 19th-century altar rail. The nave retains 17th-century strapwork panelling, the pattern of which is repeated on the sanctuary. An octagonal font of 15th-century date stands on a squat round pier. Poppy head benches appear in the north chapel with panelled seating.

A pulpit with surrounding panelling is dated 1615 but was inserted around 1890 and is said to originate from the demolished Scott's Hall. It stands on a columnar stem with a bolection-moulded base decorated with ribband work, fluted and reeded panels, and an anthemion frieze to arcaded upper panels featuring strapwork, modillion, and egg and tongue cornices. Back panels display reeded arcading with guilloche pilasters. The tester is cross-beamed with a fluted valance, knop pendants, and jewel-shaped soffit decoration.

Glass includes a 16th-century continental roundel in the chapel east window, the Passeley Arms in the north chapel, and a 14th-century head.

A 15th-century cusped tomb recess in the north chapel features a depressed arch on colonettes, a pierced quatrefoil frieze, and an embattled top. A monument to Priscilla and Mary Scott (died 1648 and 1652, erected 1654) is constructed of black and white marble with a scrolled pediment on pilasters and inscription plaques in enriched brackets with draped skulls. Its central arcaded panel shows two frontal figures leaning on a central prayer desk. The Loftie memorial above the chancel arch commemorates Paul Loftie (died 1703) and family; it is a simple grey marble aedicule with arms above and an enriched apron bearing a cherub's head below. Two 17th-century wooden plaques on the nave west wall, also from Scott's Hall, display double scalloped arches with pendants and arms; the left panel is dated 1461 and bears the Bedingfield Arms with initials E.B., while the right is dated 1429 with the Scott Arms and initial W.S.

This church was formerly the chapel of Aldington St Martin.