Church Of St George

The Church of St George is a building of considerable historical and architectural significance, dating back to the 12th century. It has undergone several phases of construction and restoration, with key additions in the 13th century (chancel and window openings), the late 15th and 16th centuries (clerestory, south porch, and raising of the west tower), and a more significant Victorian restoration in the 19th century, followed by further work in 1962.

The church is constructed of coursed rubble limestone with dressed quoins, and has stone slate roofs. The west tower has three stages, featuring a moulded parapet and a monopitch roof over the south-east stair turret. The bell-chamber has late 15th and 16th-century openings with two uncusped arched lights. A 13th-century arched window with Y-tracery is located on the west side of the tower, along with a single arched light in the middle stage. The nave has coved stone eaves and restored 13th-century windows with pairs of cusped lancets. A blocked north doorway has imposts and a flat head, while the fine 12th-century south doorway features a semi-circular roll-moulded arch, dogtooth ornament to the imposts and frieze, and shafted jambs with cushion capitals. The tympanum above the doorway is carved with a relief depicting Sagittarius shooting a monster. The gabled south porch, largely restored in 1950, has a chamfered arch. The south wall of the nave retains carved kneelers marking the original eaves line, and two 15th and 16th-century clerestory windows with two cusped lights and Tudor hoodmoulds, one taller than the other. The chancel, built of slightly better dressed stone, has small, offset buttresses and two bays of 19th and 20th-century windows in a 13th-century style, with paired cusped lights mirroring those in the nave. The east wall contains a 19th and 20th-century three-light traceried window and a memorial tablet dated 1813.

Internally, the tower arch is of the 12th and 13th centuries, with two hollow chamfered orders and imposts. The nave retains carved stone corbels from the original roof; however, it now has a flat plaster ceiling dating to 1814 with ornamental detail. Stone strings are visible at the impost level of the chancel arch in the east wall of the nave, the left reeded and the right featuring flat dogtooth ornament. The chancel arch retains 12th-century shafted jambs with cushion capitals, although the arch itself is 13th century, with two chamfered orders, the inner order resting on restored foliage corbels. The chancel has a 19th and 20th-century roof, an aumbry in the north wall, and a 14th-century cusped piscina with shelf in the south wall. Notable fittings include a 12th to 13th-century fluted circular font on a base with a cluster of four shafts, a lead bowl dated 1641, and a wooden cover from the 17th century. A fine 17th-century pulpit with arched wooden panels and bosses stands on a base constructed in 1956. A chest dated 1652 is inscribed "HG IK KC." A 19th-century carved stone reredos, originally from the church of St. Martin, Oxford, is also present. A painted panel displaying the royal arms, dated 1832, and a 20th-century organ gallery are located at the west end. In the chancel is a painted wooden memorial panel to Richard Colchester of Westbury, dated 1643, featuring a coat of arms and housed within a wooden tabernacle with a pediment, turned finials, and doors. A marble tablet in the nave commemorates William Stevens (died 1791) and his wife Ann (died 1808).