Church Of St Grade

The Church of St Grade is a parish church. The tower dates to around 1400, while the nave and chancel were rebuilt in the 19th century, specifically in 1862. This reconstruction incorporated remnants of earlier fabric from the 13th and 14th centuries. The church is constructed of rubble stone with large ashlar blocks of granite and serpentine in the tower. The various sections, including the nave, chancel, vestry, and south porch, feature separate steeply pitched roofs. The architectural style is early Decorated.

The east window is a three-light design with Geometric tracery. The north wall contains two two-light windows, each with a small trefoil above. The south wall has a narrow, trefoil-headed lancet window near the chancel, and two cusped lights set under segmental arches flanking the south porch. The south door features a 14th-century pointed arch originating from an earlier church.

The west tower has two stages and is unbuttressed, with a battlemented top and crocketted finials. It has a three-centred moulded arch to the west door, a Perpendicular three-light west window, and a two-light belfry. A vestry and organ projection are situated on the north wall, under a steeply pitched roof with an asymmetrical gable. The church displays an exposed collar rafter roof with braces. The chancel arch is pointed, constructed with whitewashed brick. The interior contains simple, mid-19th century pine benches. Mid-19th century whitewashed brick defines the sedilia and piscina.

A circa 13th-century granite font sits on a square base with an octagonal shaft and four columns. It’s richly ornamented on four faces with an emblem and a monogram of the Virgin Mary, along with shallow carved stars. A band of quatrefoils decorates the base. A brass memorial plate is located on the floor at the east end of the nave, commemorating James Ensey and his wife Margaret, dated 1522. The plate was moved from the south transept floor and includes effigies of both, the former depicted in plate armour over a hauberk, along with figures of ten children and an inscription. Four shields of arms are at the corners of the slab: a chevron between three escutcheons, each charged with a griffin segreant.

Two marble mural tablets are fixed to the inner south wall of the tower. One commemorates Richard Ensey (died 1772), featuring a broken pediment with a heraldic shield and inscription flanked by pilasters with base corbels. The second tablet commemorates Armiger Ensey (died September 1692) and his wife Marie (died July 1699), with an inscription in a rectangular frame surrounded by foliage and displaying arms. A slate slab is affixed to the exterior north wall of the chancel, dated 1671 to Hugh Mason, featuring a large coat of arms and inscription. The church contains three bells: one from 1832 by Copperhouse Hale, another from 1618 by an unknown maker, and a third from around 1500 by T Bullisdon, all housed in the original bell frame.