Church of St Dunstan

The Church of St Dunstan is a parish church dating to the late 13th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, and a restoration around 1863 by William Slater and Ewan Christian. The church is constructed of dressed stone with plain tiled roofs, largely concealed by crenellated parapets, and comprises a west tower, a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, north and south transeptal chapels, and a chancel.

The three-stage west tower features a crenellated parapet and a south-east octagonal stair turret. Stepped angle buttresses are visible. The tower has two-light cusped belfry openings under label moulds with two-centred arched openings in the second stage, and a large 15th-century window above a pointed arched west doorway, which is heavily inset. The nave and aisles each have six bays with large late 15th or early 16th-century windows, some of which have been renewed. The transeptal chapels are two-bay extensions eastward of the aisles. The chancel is three bays with a higher pitch to the roof. A circa 1700 clock, with a 20th-century figure of time (the original is in the Town Museum), is positioned on the south wall, housed within an open swan-neck pediment topping a cartouche.

Inside, a 15th-century tower arch leads to the nave. Six bays of arcades feature compound piers of four shafts and four double waves, with wide three-centred arches matching those carrying the clerestory, which has four-centred arched windows. Vertical shafts flanking the clerestory windows terminate below in demi-angles over pairs of arcade shafts and as demi-angles on roof corbels. The nave has a crown-post roof with cusped arches in the tympana. A 14th-century chancel arch defines the chancel.

Notable fittings include four wooden roof bosses depicting 'Green Men', dating from around 1300, and early 15th-century altar rails. An 18th-century pulpit, originally with a sounding board, is now a table. The font is from 1852 in Perpendicular style, and there is also a total immersion font from 1725 located near the south porch.

The north aisle contains a window with complete early 16th-century glazing. North and south chancel windows were added by O’Connor around 1858-59. Three windows in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe, dating from 1902.

A brass memorial commemorates a merchant from around 1520. A marble, standing monument for the Roberts family, made by Joseph Pickford in 1740, features a broker pediment and oak-leaf drops. Another monument is for the Baker family, dated 1736. A memorial to Thomas Webster, R.A. (died 1886), executed by Sir William Hamo Thornycroft in 1889, is a marble relief depicting the recumbent artist.