Church Of St Nicholas And Mary

The Church of St Nicholas and Mary is an Anglican parish church largely dating to the 15th century, with alterations in the 19th century. The tower and chancel are built of squared and coursed sandstone, while the nave uses squared and coursed red sandstone and lias in alternating bands. Ashlar is used for the tower parapet, with freestone for the openings and copings. The nave has a slate roof, and the chancel a plain tile roof.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and north porch. The south wall of the nave features two recut cusped-light Perpendicular windows under flat hoodmoulds with lozenge stops, one blocked Tudor arched window, and a single-light, triangular-headed 19th-century window. Similar Perpendicular windows are found on the north wall. The chancel has a recut two-light Perpendicular window on both north and south walls. A Tudor arched doorway with a 19th-century plank door is set into the north wall of the chancel, above which is a mediaeval statue of God the Father set in a shallow niche. The chancel east window is a 19th-century three-light Perpendicular style window. A quoin carved with shears is located at the junction between the nave and chancel on the north side, marking the symbol of the Wool Staplers' Guild.

The west tower has three stages with diagonal buttresses, a polygonal northeast corner embattled stair turret, and a pierced lozenge parapet with crocketted corner pinnacles. A tall three-light Perpendicular window is set into the west facade’s first stage. The tower includes moulded stringcourses, two cusped-light bell openings with dense quatrefoil piercing and hoodmoulds, a moulded cornice below the parapet featuring fine gargoyles (including a ram’s head on each face), and a gabled north porch with a Tudor arched doorway and a plain 19th-century north doorway with plank door.

Internally, the nave features a double-chamfered tower arch and a 19th-century wagon roof supported by a mediaeval wall plate. The chancel arch is double-chamfered, with a 19th-century open rafter roof featuring transverse tie beams. A Perpendicular font, octagonal with quatrefoil panels, stands at the base of the tower arch. A Charles II coat of arms dated 1660 is displayed above the north door. Three fine wall monuments on the south wall commemorate the Jones and Sandford families, the earliest being to William Jones (died 1748) by Thomas Paty. A 19th-century Perpendicular style pulpit is also present, as are fine 1915 canvas murals depicting the Day of Judgement and scenes from Christ's life by Henry Strachey, located above the chancel arch and on the chancel walls. The east window contains floral stained glass dating from 1846.