Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church with a chancel dating back to the early 14th century, a 14th-century tower rebuilt later, a 14th-century porch, a chancel door from 1721, and the remainder of the church redone in 1877 by Crickmay. It is constructed of banded ashlar and flint with ashlar dressings, and has tiled roofs with gable stone copings. The plan encompasses a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, a north organ chamber, a north vestry, and a south porch.

The west tower has four stages separated by weathered strings, an embattled parapet with crocketed finials, diagonal buttresses to the lower stages, a polygonal south vice turret, a 19th-century pointed three-light west window with curvilinear tracery, and two-light pointed belfry windows with pointed heads, Perpendicular tracery, and returned labels. The north aisle’s north wall features 19th-century three-light square-headed windows with returned labels, separated by buttresses, and a three-light window in the west wall with a pointed head and curvilinear tracery. The vestry has a 19th-century rosette over three lancets. The south aisle has a west window similar to that of the north aisle, and south wall windows which are 19th-century, three-light windows under pointed heads, separated by buttresses – the left window having intersecting tracery and the right reticulated tracery.

The chancel, dating to the early 14th century, has pointed two-light north and south windows of two lights with quatrefoil heads. It also features a 14th-century pointed east window of three lights with reticulated tracery, and a dated south door with a chamfered round head and continuous jambs. The south porch has a pointed arch of two chamfered orders, a barrel vaulted stone roof with chamfered ribs supported by external buttresses, and a reset 15th-century south door with a four-centered head and square surround.

Inside, there are three-bay pointed arcades with flat soffits on round columns with moulded caps and bases. The chancel arch is 19th-century, pointed and moulded. The tower arch consists of two chamfered orders dying into responds, and the segmental pointed organ chamber arch is of two chamfered orders. The nave has a 19th-century collar-truss with turned collars and king-posts and arch braced collar and tie-beam trusses to the aisles. The chancel has a barrel roof. A 19th-century round stone pulpit incorporates fleuron decoration. In addition, there is a reset 12th-century image of Christ in Majesty and a reset 17th-century canopied table-tomb to John Alie and family, along with other reset 17th- to 20th-century monuments and 19th-century glass. Other features are largely from the 19th century.