Church Of St Keria

The Church of St Keria is a parish church with Norman origins, consecrated in 1222. It was restored in 1879. The church is constructed of stone rubble with a moulded plinth to the south aisle and tower, and has granite ashlar to the south porch. The roofs are slate, continuous over the nave and chancel.

The church comprises a nave and chancel, a south aisle, a south porch, and a west tower. Surviving Norman fabric is visible in parts of the north wall of the nave, the north transept, the tympanum above the blocked north door, the reset tympanum above the south door, the font, and a rare survival, the piscina. A 15th-century west tower stands three stages high, with a battlemented parapet and crocketted finials. A C17 south aisle was likely added, possibly by Sir John Specott in 1622. The church guide attributes the south aisle to Specott, and it's possible the south porch is also from this date. The west tower contains a C20 west door and window, along with Perpendicular 2-light belfry openings with slate louvers. The church’s Perpendicular tracery was largely replaced during the 19th-century restoration, though earlier tracery remains in the east window of the south aisle. The north transept windows are earlier 1-light and 2-light lancets with cusped heads. A blocked north door has a Norman tympanum depicting a dragon devouring its own tail. The granite ashlar south porch features a 3-centred granite roll-moulded arch, and its south door arch has an empty niche above.

Inside, the church includes a circa 15th-century tower arch and a Norman arch to the north transept. The nave and chancel contain a C19 waggon roof and the south aisle has a boarded waggon roof retaining some original moulded ribs, carved bosses, and a wall plate with C19 boarding. A five-bay south arcade features type A (Pevsner) piers and 4-centred moulded arches. A tympanum depicting the Agnus Dei was reset above the inner side of the south door during the 1887 restoration and was originally used as building stone. Furnishings are largely C19. Original features include a Norman font with a cable-moulded rim, and a Norman piscina. A helmet and gauntlet are on a window ledge at the east end of the south aisle wall, alongside an alabaster monument likely belonging to Sir Guy Blanchminster. Other monuments commemorate members of the Speccott family (1644–1705), Reverend John King Lethbridge (1861), Reverend John Morgan (1792), Grace Speccott (1636), William Sattren (1742), Elizabeth Lethbridge (1833), and Henry Addington Simcoe (1868). The north door and tympanum are illustrated by Sedding. The church stands on a high mound, centrally located within the village.