Parish Church Of St Mary

The parish church of St Mary is a building of significant historical development, initially dating from the 14th century and significantly altered through the 16th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The original nave was constructed in the 14th century, followed by the crossing, transepts, and central tower in the 15th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the 16th century, and a south aisle was added in 1833, later substantially rebuilt by E.S. Prior in 1897. A 20th-century south-east vestry has also been added.

The church is built of rubble stone with stone dressings, and has slate roofs with stone gable copings. The north side of the nave features windows dating from around the 16th century, with three windows of cinquefoiled ogee lights, tracery in a square head, labels, and figured stops. A small single light window is located in the east end, also dating from the 16th century. The north porch, of the 15th century, has a moulded entrance with a two-centred head. The central tower comprises three stages and includes an embattled parapet and a south-west stair turret. The bell openings are two transomed lights, with an unpierced quatrefoil above, a label, and head stops. The north and south transepts, dating from around 1400, feature diagonal buttresses. The north window has three cinquefoiled lights with panel tracery in a segmental pointed head and shafted splays. The south transept window is similar in style. The chancel, also from the 16th century, contains two two-light windows in square heads with labels and returned stops. A priest’s door, with moulded jambs and a pointed head, sits centrally. The south wall of the chancel has been refaced. The south aisle of the nave is under a pentice slate roof and contains three two-light windows of 16th-century style, with a doorway dating from around 1897 at the east end.

Internally, the nave has four bays, with remnants of a 15th-century waggon roof retaining some features at the east end. The south arcade, rebuilt in 1897 by Prior, has piers with low four-centred arches. A shallow recess in the north wall of the nave once housed the pulpit. The crossing-piers, dating from the 15th century, have panelled reveals and arch-soffits, each with a trefoiled head in all main directions. The chancel contains a blocked 16th-century south window, with recess remaining. The west splay of the eastern window features "two slots perhaps for fixing the lentern veil." The transepts and chancel have waggon-roofed ceilings. The font features an octagonal bowl with cinquefoiled or trefoil-headed panels dating from the 14th century, set upon a cylindrical shaft with a square moulded base and spur ornaments, dating from the late 12th century. A piscina is found in the chancel from the 13th century, with a round projecting drain and stone shelf. A pillar-piscina with moulded capping and base, from the 15th century, is located in the north transept, beneath a small canopy with crocketed ogee heads. Monuments include a moulded stone tablet in the north transept to Major John Ironsyde (1694) and Katherine (1705), and a wall tablet in a frame with a broken pediment, cherub, and emblems of mortality to Elizabeth, wife of John Best (1747).