Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating from the 12th to 14th centuries, with repairs to the tower in the 18th century and restoration and the addition of a porch in 1872. It is constructed of flint, partly rendered, with tufa quoins, red brick buttresses, and a plain tiled roof. The church comprises a chancel, nave, a west tower, and a south porch.

The tower has brick buttresses, keyed brick belfry lights, and battlements. It features an overlapping plank door with strap-hinges, exhibiting veined decoration within chamfered doorways and a 14th-century timbered porch. There are 14th-century trefoil-headed lancet windows with ogee surrounds, alongside partly restored 13th-century triple lancet windows. A triple-headed east window in the chancel has a continuous drip mould.

Internally, the nave and chancel share a roof with scissor braced timbers. A 19th-century cruck-type wooden chancel arch is also present. The reveals of blocked 13th and 12th-century lancets can be seen in both the nave and chancel. Victorian altar rails and fittings complete the interior.

Several monuments are noteworthy. In the chancel is a grey marble wall plaque commemorating Baptist Piggot, who died in 1677, featuring scrolled and garlanded sides on a base with consoles and swags, topped with a scrolled pediment and cartouche. A wall tablet honours Benjamin Godfrey, who died in 1704, displaying an urn at the top surrounded by garlands, a plinth, and a plaque flanked by weeping putti. A later inscription is dedicated to Reverend William Lushington (d.1842). Within the nave is a white wall plaque dedicated to the Right Hon. Mary Elizabeth Lady Sondes, who died in 1818, depicting a robed woman ascending through clouds towards a blazing sun, guided by winged angels, with Hebrew characters and symbols including an apple tree, a flaming torch, a bag of gold, an eagle, a death's head, and a cornucopia. A white hanging monument commemorates George Finch, who died in 1584, featuring a gadrooned and fluted surround to the inscription, supported by Corinthian columns, a frieze, a modillion eaves cornice, and an achievement. Finally, a white and yellow wall plaque memorializes Charles Tassel, who died in 1763, ornamented with scrolled and garlanded sides, a triple projecting cornice, and a base featuring a winged head.