Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St. Mary the Virgin

This parish church dates from the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations dating to around 1300, circa 1800, and the 19th century. It is built of mixed stone, partly rendered, with a plain tile roof and wood shingles to the spire. The building comprises a west tower, a nave and chancel in virtually continuous form, north and south aisles to the nave, and a south porch.

The 12th-century west tower rises in three stages on its north and south sides, with the lower two stages incorporated to the west. Clasping buttresses support the structure, and a splay-footed octagonal spire rises from the top. The north and south sides each have small chamfered round-headed openings to the first and third stages, and broader round-headed openings to the second stage (blocked to the north). A single trefoil-headed light pierces the top stage to the west. The west door features a 2-centred arch with plain chamfer and broach stops, now rendered.

The south aisle, probably dating to around 1300, is narrow and gabled, supported by 3 buttresses and lacks a west window. Two 2-light south windows of circa 1800 have round-headed cavetto-moulded lights and segmental hoodmoulds with dropped verticals. A chamfered round-headed east window, possibly inserted later, completes the aisle. The south porch is coped with rounded kneelers of rendered tiles. Rectangular lights open to the east and west, while the outer doorway features a chamfered 2-centred arch, as does the inner doorway with broach stop.

The chancel is 12th-century in origin but was extended around 1300. South-east and north-east angle buttresses support it, with a battered plinth to the east. Two tall rebated south lancets are present, the western example being longer and broader. A small doorway with pointed arch, plain chamfer and broach stops lies to the west of centre. The cusped 4-light east window, dating to around 1300, features 3 quatrefoils to the head, cavetto mullions, and a hollow-chamfered architrave but no hoodmould. A tall chamfered north lancet stands towards the west end.

The north aisle, built around 1300, has no plinth but is gabled with moulded stone coping. Four evenly-spaced north buttresses rest on moulded plinths. A 2-light east window with cinquefoiled head and square top is moulded with a hoodmould, as are 2 similar windows to the north in the outer bays. A central hollow-chamfered north doorway with broach stops and an almost pointed head provides access, though there is no west window.

Internally, a 3-bay nave arcade features pointed arches of 2 hollow-chamfered orders and columns with bell capitals and bases. The arcades rest at their east and west ends on moulded imposts; that at the north-west forms a tall moulded hat slung low over a carved head beneath. There is no chancel arch. The tower arch, plain chamfered and pointed, is considered a later alteration; it springs from attached columns with scalloped capitals and bell bases. The east window is flanked either side by a slender shaft with bell capital and base set within the hollow-chamfered architrave. A hollow-chamfered rere-arch features a roll-and-fillet hoodmould. The string below the east window is rounded but not undercut. The inner arches of the two south lancets spring from small carved heads with bell "hats", whilst the north lancet has small moulded imposts. A rectangular stone to the east of centre in the north chancel wall is said to mark the extent of the 12th-century chancel. A broad rectangular blocked opening exists at the west end of the south chancel wall, and a narrow round-headed rood-loft doorway stands just above the nave arcade at the south junction of nave and chancel.

The nave roof features 4 crown-posts: two at the centre are octagonal with moulded capitals and bases, one at the west end is rectangular with broad chamfered sides, and one at the east end is plain. All have sous-laces, ashlar-pieces, and a moulded cornice. Moulded tie-beams, those at the centre bearing pendant posts and solid braces, carry the roof structure. The chancel roof is of common rafters with collars, sous-laces, ashlar-pieces, and a chamfered cornice, with a straight central plain-chamfered tie-beam. The north aisle roof has 4 short rectangular chamfered crown-posts on heavy cambered moulded tie-beams, with sous-laces, ashlar-pieces, and a moulded cornice to the north, whilst 3 plain straight intermediate tie-beams provide additional support. The south aisle roof is similar but features taller crown-posts.

Medieval furnishings include a pair of stepped sedile and an unusual double piscina beneath a continuous roll-and-fillet hoodmould; a mask-like face appears between the sedile and piscina, with a priest's head between them. All three features have trefoil-heads, hollow chamfers, and broach stops. Medieval floor tiles line the chancel. An octagonal medieval font with octagonal shaft stands on a square stone plinth to the west of the south door, whilst a painted wood font cover, probably 17th-century, bears a knob finial. A slender moulded beam to the west end of the east bay of the south aisle, set towards the springing of the arcade, probably represents the head of a screen. An 18th-century north door serves the north aisle, and 18th-century doors with fielded panels open to the tower arch. An 18th-century hexagonal pulpit with fielded panels and balusters stands within. Royal arms dated 1775 hang over the north door, and an Italianate triptych adorns the west wall of the south aisle.

Monuments include a plain tablet above the font commemorating Edith M. Nesbit (1858–1924), a brass to Matilda Jamys (d.1499), and a brass to William Gregory (d.1502), both in the nave.