Church Of Saint Mary

The Church of St Mary is an Anglican parish church with origins dating back to around 1200. It was largely rebuilt and extended between the 13th and 16th centuries, and restored in 1910-11, when the chancel and north chapel were extended by the architect C Ponting. The church is constructed of flint and rubble stone with ashlar dressings. The nave, north aisle, and chancel have lead roofs with parapets, while the south transept and vestry are tiled. The north porch roof is stone slated, and the south porch roof is a mix of stone slate and tile.

The church comprises a nave, north aisle, chancel, south transept, vestry, north and south porches, and a west tower. The tower has four stages with a battlemented parapet and pinnacles, with an octagonal stair turret on the south side, featuring moulded string courses to each stage. The north wall was repaired using brick. The south wall of the nave has a clerestory with five square-headed windows, each with two lights and arched lights, and two square-headed windows with three lights and cusped lights at a lower level. A moulded doorway provides access to the south porch. The south transept contains a five-light window with Perpendicular tracery. The 16th-century vestry, to the east, has a four-centred arched doorway and a plain three-light square-headed window in the east wall. A three-light square-headed window with arched lights is set into the south chancel wall. Diagonal buttresses support the chancel. A re-set 15th-century east window, with three lights and Perpendicular tracery, is positioned centrally. Carved 12th-century stone fragments are incorporated into the east wall of the chapel. In the north chapel wall are two square-headed three-light windows with arched lights, and an elliptical-headed doorway. The north aisle contains a five-light window with Perpendicular tracery, with the lower portion blocked, and two three-light square-headed windows with arched lights to its west. Diagonal buttresses support the north porch, which features a pointed segmental arch. The inner doorway has an elliptical arch and a 16th-century oak door.

Internal features include plastered walls, a shallow waggon roof to the chancel (dating from the 1910 restoration), and several 17th and 18th-century monuments on the south wall. A 16th-century brass is located in a squint to the transept. Other features include an 18th-century three-sided altar rail, a north arcade with moulded arches and shafts with foliage capitals, a depressed arch braced nave roof with a panelled ceiling featuring moulded ribs and cusped cross bracing, a 17th-century painted text on the south nave wall, and remains of 16th-century Royal Arms partially covered by an 18th-century tablet. A west gallery dated 1635 has turned balusters and carved Royal Arms. There is also a 17th-century two-decker pulpit with a clerk's desk, and 17th-century box pews throughout the church. A circular 12th-century tub font with diaper patterning is present, along with a 17th-century cover. A late 17th-century wall painting of the Lord's Prayer is found in the north aisle, and the south transept contains a collection of medieval and 16th and 17th-century monuments, primarily to the Martyn family.