Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a largely medieval building, dating from the early 13th century, with significant later additions and alterations in the late 13th, early 14th, early 15th, and late 19th centuries. It is built of coursed rubble, with the nave walls rendered and limestone ashlar to the west wall of the tower; limestone dressings and buttresses are also present, and the roof is covered in stone slate. The church is cruciform in plan, featuring a west tower. The architectural styles encompass geometric, decorated, and perpendicular elements.

The church’s east window is a late 15th-century design with five lights, topped with a hood mould. The north wall of the chancel includes a late 19th-century vestry and an early 13th-century two-light window. The south wall has two late 13th-century two-light windows, a late 13th-century doorway with a cusped architrave, and a late 19th-century door. The doorway’s hood mould continues as a string-course around the chancel walls. The south transept features a hood mould and segmental head over a four-light early 15th-century window, and a three-light early 15th-century west window. An earlier 3-light window and a door with a late 19th-century leaf motif are set into the east wall. The north transept has a label-mould and segmental arch over a four-light mullioned and transomed early 15th-century window, a plain early 15th-century doorway in the west wall, and a two-light early 14th-century window with an ogee head and cusping. The nave’s south wall contains one early 15th-century three-light window and two late 15th-century three-light windows, with arched heads to the raised clerestory level. A late 15th-century south porch features a two-light window with arched heads, and an early 13th-century doorway leads into the nave. The nave’s north wall has two similar early 15th-century windows, a blocked early 13th-century door, and four late 15th-century windows at clerestory level. The early 15th-century west tower has an embattled parapet, a west door, and two-light windows, except for the west window which has a segmental arch over its three lights. The roofs are gabled, with moulded parapets, the chancel roof being higher than the nave roof.

Inside, the chancel features late 19th-century linen-fold panelling behind the altar, trefoiled heads to the sedilia and piscina, and a late 14th-century Easter Sepulchre with extensive oak leaf foliage. Benches are predominantly late 19th-century, with one surviving late 15th-century desk and bench with poppy heads. A three-bay late 19th-century crown post roof spans the nave. Seven brasses from the 15th and early 16th centuries are set into the chancel floor. The chancel screen consists of one-light, trefoil-headed divisions dating to the late 15th century, now restored in the late 19th century. Squints are positioned in the transepts. The north transept contains an early 14th-century ogee arch with ballflower ornament cusping over a cross-legged effigy of a knight, original piscina, and a two-bay roof, likely from the late 13th century. The south transept holds a shroud brass from around 1500 memorializing William and Elizabeth Fettiplace, set into a back wall of late 15th-century Purbeck marble, alongside two early 14th-century floor-brasses and a wall-brass to the Fettiplace family. Carved corbels depicting angels supporting coats of arms support a late 15th-century three-bay roof, which has been restored in the late 19th century. The nave incorporates a late 19th-century lectern and pulpit, lead font from around 1200 with upright figures of bishops—derived from the same moulds—, early 19th-century wall tablets, and a late 19th-century roof.