Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church dating from the late 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, with mid-to-late 19th-century restoration. Built in ragstone with plain tile roofs.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, continuous north chapel and north aisle, north porch, and north vestry to the tower.

West Tower: The tower dates from the late 11th or 12th century. It has no plinth and features a large diagonal south-west buttress. The tower rises without distinct stages and is crowned by a pyramidal spire with a weathervane. The belfry lights include one round-headed louvred opening on each of the west and north faces, and two smaller openings to the east. The south face has a belfry window with a segmental head. Below the north belfry light is a narrower round-headed opening, and a small lancet to the south. The west face displays a 2-light window with trefoil-headed lights and a squared hoodmould. A low west doorway has a segmental head of small even voussoirs springing from chamfered imposts.

Nave: Probably dating from the 11th century. It has no plinth and two south buttresses. The south-east corner retains undressed quoins. Two sets of paired rendered red brick lancets, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, occupy the south wall.

Chancel: Late 11th or 12th century, altered in the 13th century. The south wall towards its west end shows traces of herringbone stonework. A scroll-moulded string runs along the east end of the south wall, returning to the east and continuing along the north wall. The south-west contains a 2-light 15th-century window with cinquefoiled and traceried lights and a hoodmould. A similar 2-light window occupies the south-east. Paired lancets light the east end. A low 19th-century priest's doorway with porch opens to the south. A rainwater head is dated 1876.

North Chapel: Dating from the later 13th century, it is gabled with a battered plinth. The east window comprises 3 stepped cinquefoil-headed lights with a pointed arch. Two north windows include one of conjoined trefoil-headed lights and another 15th-century opening similar to the south-west chancel window.

North Aisle: 13th-century, without a plinth. Late 18th or early 19th-century paired rendered lancets light the north wall.

North Porch: Gabled, with no windows. It features a pointed-arched hollow-chamfered outer doorway and a similar, restored inner doorway. A scratched date of 1610 appears on the porch.

External walls throughout the church incorporate a number of consecration crosses, some probably reset.

Interior Structure: The nave originally had an arcade, removed in the mid-19th century and replaced by a bressumer supported on a moulded octagonal post. A stump of a plain-chamfered stone arch with high chamfered impost remains at the east end, probably dating from the 13th century but raised in the 15th century. A pointed, lightly-chamfered 13th-century chancel arch springs from chamfered late 11th or 12th-century imposts. A plain-chamfered arch separates the north aisle from the chapel, abutting the nave arcade stump and possibly altered in the 15th century. A pointed, plain-chamfered 13th-century arch connects the chancel and chapel, rising from the ground without imposts. The tower arch is pointed and unchamfered, with late 11th or 12th-century nicked and chamfered imposts. A blocked splayed round-headed north window survives towards the base of the tower, and a blocked round-headed south doorway is visible. A 4-centred arched rood-loft doorway opens to the west end of the chapel, with a similar doorway higher in the east wall of the aisle.

Roofs: The nave has a crown-post roof with a central moulded octagonal crown-post on a cambered moulded tie-beam with braced pendant posts, sous-laces, ashlar-pieces to the south and formerly to the north, and a moulded cornice to the south. East and west crown-posts have been removed. The north aisle has a common rafter roof with collars and sous-laces, with ashlar-pieces and a moulded cornice to the north and formerly to the south. A similar but later roof covers the north chapel. The chancel retains a moulded octagonal medieval crown-post on a moulded tie-beam, though the remainder was restored in the 19th century.

Fixtures and Fittings: A trefoil-headed stoup with broach stops and ring-moulded front to the bowl stands at the east end of the chancel's south wall. Consecration crosses appear throughout, some probably dating from the 19th century.

Stained Glass: Fragments of medieval glass survive in the tracery of the chancel's south-west window. The east window of the north chapel contains a Transfiguration by Gibbs, commemorating George Paine (died 1858) and Mary (died 1863).

Monuments: A tomb recess on the north wall of the north aisle has a chamfered segmental head. A monument to Ralph Heyman (died 1601) and his wife Anne occupies a position under a moulded 4-centred arch with hoodmould between the chancel and north chapel. It comprises an alabaster chest on a stone plinth with a chamfered black marble lid, each face displaying a raised rectangular panel flanked by plain pilasters with heraldic shields. An alabaster figure of a man kneeling formerly upon the chest, now at its foot. Heraldic shields adorn the opposed walls of the recess above the tomb chest; the eastern shield retains its inscription and relates to Peter Heyman and Elizabeth Till, parents of Ralph, and William Norton and Elizabeth Wingfield, parents of Anne. A monument to Thomas Godfrey (died 1664) occupies the north wall of the north chapel, rendered in alabaster with an oval inscription panel set on a raised rectangular ground with shields and cherubs, flanked by Corinthian columns. The plinth features moulded consoles with a swagged base panel, a moulded cornice, and a double open-topped segmental pediment with achievements.