Parish Church Of St Mary

The parish church of St Mary in Melbury Sampford is a Grade I listed building, comprising a 15th-century chancel, a crossing-tower with north and south transepts, and a nave. The nave was extended in 1874, which involved the demolition of a former west porch, with further restoration work taking place in 1878. The church is constructed of coursed rubble stone with ashlar Ham stone dressings, featuring embattled parapets with 19th-century terminal figures and lead roofs.

The chancel has an east window of three cinquefoiled lights with panel tracery in a pointed head, along with moulded reveals and a label with returned stops. The north and south walls of the chancel have windows of two cinquefoiled lights in square heads, with similar moulded reveals and labels. The central tower has two stages and an embattled parapet, and the bell chamber has two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a pointed head, with stone tracery for the bell openings. A newel staircase, square externally, is located in the southwest angle. The north transept has a blocked window similar to the east window, and a two-light window in the west wall. The south transept features a three-light window with panel tracery, sub-panelled and a quatrefoil in the head, with a label featuring head-stops.

The extended 19th-century nave contains a 19th-century two-light window in both north and south walls, alongside a reset window in the west wall. A two-leaf plank door, with cusped panels and Y-tracery head, is set within a moulded jambs and two-centred arch in a square head, featuring carved foliage spandrels and a label with head-stops.

Inside, the chancel has a pointed-segmental compartmented roof with ribbed mouldings, carried on moulded stone corbels, dating to the 19th century. The crossing has a 19th-century octagonal lantern structure, glazed, resting on stone corbels. The nave features a 19th-century hammer-beam roof of three bays, also supported by carved stone corbels. A 15th-century font is partly built into the north respond of the west crossing-arch, with an octagonal bowl, trumpet-stem, and moulded base. Stained glass is present in the east window, south transept, and west window, mainly dating from the 15th century. There are two altar-tombs with canopies and alabaster effigies from the 15th century, one dedicated to William Browning and the other to Sir Giles Strangways (though dated 1547, it is of 15th-century origin). Extensive wall monuments are located within the north transept, including a 1726 marble monument to Thomas Strangways, Jun., and a marble tablet to Sir John Strangways. The nave contains four 18th-century monuments with Rococo framing. Stalls in the chancel, along with seating against the crossing tower, are 19th-century, in an early Decorated style with naturalistic foliage. A pulpit and priest's desk share similar ornament and display the Ilchester arms. A monument to Caroline Leonora, wife of Henry Stephen, 3rd Earl of Ilchester, dated 1819 and sculpted by Chantrey in 1821, features a kneeling figure of a woman and is located in the church. The church's monuments are of particular interest.