Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is an Anglican parish church located in Charlcombe. It dates from the 12th century, with alterations in the 13th and 15th centuries, and was restored between 1857 and 1861, likely by J. Wilson of Bath and possibly following plans by G.G. Scott. The church is constructed of ashlar and coursed squared rubble with freestone dressings, topped with a stone slate roof featuring coped raised verges.

The building includes a nave with a west bell-turret, a south porch, and a chancel. The low, square west bell-turret projects from the west gable of the nave and has an embattled parapet, a string course, and square open lights. The nave features a 19th-century three-light window. The chancel has 19th-century single and two-light windows with cusped heads, a buttress with offsets at the east end, and a two-light Perpendicular style east window from the 19th century. The south porch has an ashlar facade with a chamfered and segmental headed doorway. The south door, which dates back to the 12th century, has columns with trumpet capitals and a chamfered and round-headed surround.

Inside, there are chamfered and pointed arches for the chancel and tower, both featuring a chamfered outer order at the upper part, with a squint in the north jamb of the tower arch. The font, likely from the early 12th century, has a round bowl with a decorative underside of upright leaves arranged in two tiers, supported by a cylindrical stem.

Monuments within the church include an inscribed stone plaque for Elizabeth Wilkinson, who died in 1735, and an oval inscribed marble plaque for Manley Power, who died in 1780, both located in the nave. In the chancel, there is a marble monument for Lady Barbara Montagu, who died in 1765, created by Ford of Bath, depicting a woman in robes resting on a plinth, surrounded by an aedicular design with an open pediment and arms. Notably, the novelist Henry Fielding was married to Charlotte Craddock at this church on November 28, 1734.