Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a church dating from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, with restoration work undertaken in 1848 by H.J. Underwood and in 1867 by C. Buckeridge. It is constructed of partly-coursed limestone and marl stone rubble, with limestone ashlar dressings, lead and Stonesfield slate roofs. The church comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, a west tower, and a south porch.

The chancel, built of marlstone with some limestone banding, features a single 13th-century lancet window to the north. The 3-light east window and other side windows are 14th-century with flowing and reticulated tracery and were restored. A restored priest’s door is located to the south. The nave and aisles are of limestone, with shallow-pitched roofs. The south aisle has Decorated windows of 3 and 2 lights to the east and west, plus a large, square-headed 3-light 15th-century window to the south. The north aisle incorporates a similar 15th-century window to the north, a 3-light window with intersecting tracery to the east, and a small square-headed 15th-century window to the west. Both the north and south doors date to the 14th century, the latter sheltered by a 15th-century porch with a moulded outer arch and tiny 2-light side windows. The 15th-century nave clerestory has square-headed 2-light windows below an ashlar parapet.

The plain-parapetted west tower, constructed of squared limestone with ashlar diagonal buttresses and a moulded plinth, has an arched west doorway within a rectangular casement moulding, and a 3-light west window with Perpendicular tracery. Arched 2-light bell-chamber openings are above a moulded string; a stair projection is located at the south-east corner.

Internally, the chancel features a 13th-century trefoil-headed piscina with a restored projecting bowl, and a 19th-century braced collar-truss roof. The chancel arch is 13th/14th-century, with two chamfered orders dying into responds. The tall, continuously-moulded 14th-century tower arch also has two chamfered orders. Two-bay 14th-century nave arcades, also of two chamfered orders on octagonal columns, are present; the south arcade is likely later with richer mouldings to the capitals. Image niches are found in the eastern responds of both arcades. Masonry sections exist to the east and west of the arcades; the south arcade has traces of an earlier arcade to the west, and a 15th-century rood stair projects into the south aisle with a further niche to the east. Niches with traceried heads flank the east window of the south aisle, alongside a small restored 14th-century piscina and an ogee-headed holy-water stoup. The north aisle includes a 14th-century column piscina with a stone shelf. The 19th-century nave roof has traceried infill and curved braces to the shallow trusses; the 19th-century aisle roofs have moulded principal members. Fittings include a restored 15th-century screen with traceried panels and a medieval chest. Above the octagonal 14th-century font is a 19th-century corona lucis. Fragments of medieval stained glass are in the south aisle west window, glass of 1916 fills the south aisle east window, and 19th-century glass is found in the chancel. A monument to Gabriel and Alice Myrry (died 1684 and 1681) features a rectangular panel flanked by inverted cornucopiae, below a cartouche of arms.