Church of St Mary and the Holy Cross

The Church of St Mary and the Holy Cross is a parish church with origins in the 12th and 13th centuries, featuring a 15th-century nave and west tower. It was extensively restored and enlarged in 1872 by William Butterfield. The church is constructed from flint and plaster, with plain tiled roofs, and comprises a west tower, an aisleless nave, a chancel with north and south chapels, and a south porch.

The two-stage west tower has a string course and cornice to the battlements, with a northwest octagonal vice. It features a double-chamfered west doorway, two-light Perpendicular windows on the west face, and belfry lights. The nave sits on a plinth and has two-light Perpendicular windows on both the north and south sides. The south porch is a 19th-century addition of half-timber and weatherboard construction, containing a 15th-century double-hinged door within a double hollow-chamfered surround. The three eastern chapels exhibit 12th-century exterior features, although the chancel’s lancet windows are original.

Inside, the nave is short and features a hollow-chamfered tower arch with attached shafts and octagonal capitals. The roof has three crown posts, the easternmost shortened to raise above the chancel arch, supported by flat, heavily moulded ties. The chancel arch has a double hollow chamfer on octagonal responds with corbels on the inner face, likely relating to a lost rood screen. The chancel was originally two bays, with chapels added to the north and south around 1200. A two-bay arcade to the north has a round pier, a square moulded abacus chamfered at the corners, decorated with debased upright acanthus leaves, fillet rolls on the arches, and corbel tables on the responds; this work is stylistically comparable to features at Bapchild, Doddington, Frinsted and Murston.

The chancel was extended eastwards in the late 13th century, with original quoins visible internally. The north and south sides have paired lancets; the reveals of the two westerly windows were taken down to floor level with drip moulds. The windows were renewed in the 19th century, and a wagon roof was installed. Mutilated capitals in the south arch retain the paired upright leaf motif, and nook shafts are the only remaining elements of the pre-Butterfield design in the south chapel. The north chapel is attributed to William Butterfield, with a previous suggestion of R.C. Hussey in around 1855.

Fittings include a sedile and piscina with a double chamfered surround. A painted tryptych reredos and altar rails, along with glass elements, date from the 1870s, as do two wrought iron lamp stands, approximately 7 feet in height and with gilded detailing. The pulpit, lectern, benches, wrought iron screen to the tower and octagonal font are also likely products of Butterfield’s work.

Monuments include marble and cast iron wall plaques dedicated to various 19th-century members of the Tylden family in the north chapel. Noteworthy among these are the memorials to Elizabeth Tylden (d.1839), featuring a bust; and to William and Richard Tylden (d.1854 and 1855), by R.C. Hussey. Two crocketted tabernacles, integrated with double lancet windows and marble shafts, flank the monument, and are mirrored by a smaller, plainer monument dedicated to Charlotte Tylden (d.1858).