Church of St Francis

The Church of St Francis is a parish church with a core dating back to the 12th century, significantly rebuilt in the 17th century when the south porch was added. It was restored in 1879.

The church is constructed from local rubble, dressed stone, and flint, with rendering covering most surfaces except for the north wall of the nave and the south porch. Buttresses are present on all sides except the east end. The roofs are tiled with clay and have stone gable-copings with ovolo and cyma mouldings to the kneelers.

The church is oriented south-west to north-east and includes a chancel, nave, south porch, and a vestry added in the early 21st century, which is not of particular interest.

The south porch is constructed of banded flint and stone with stone copings. The segmental-headed entrance features hollow chamfers and a label with head stops above. To the left of the porch is a round-headed single light, likely from the 12th century. To the right are an elliptical-headed light and a window composed of two segmental-headed lights, both dating to the 17th century. The west end has a central buttress and two single lancet windows with labels. A 17th-century bell cote is surmounted by a cross. The north wall of the nave incorporates two buttresses and a former 12th-century doorway. The lower portion of the doorway is blocked, while the upper part is now a fixed window with lozenge-leaded lights. A 17th-century window with two round-headed lights is also present. The north chancel wall has a probable 12th-century single-light window, while the south elevation contains a similarly styled window widened in the 17th century and a 13th-century lancet. The east window, from the 19th century, consists of three lancets with pointed heads.

The interior walls are rendered with exposed ashlar detailing. The 12th-century chancel arch has plain responds and chamfered imposts with chip-carved diapering, though the responds have been cut back and the pointed arch is likely a replacement for the original Norman arch. An opening to a 17th-century hexagonal oak pulpit, arranged with two and a half sides and set on a stone base, is located to the north of the chancel arch. The piscina in the south wall of the chancel has a 19th-century recess containing a 12th-century scalloped capital with a square drain. The stone altar has three panels and the sanctuary floor is paved with 19th-century encaustic tiles. Victorian seating is present, with fleur-de-lys carved on the bench and stall ends. The 12th-century stone font has a square bowl, chamfered angles and lower edge, a cylindrical stem, a moulded base with spur-ornaments.

The roofs feature arch-braced collars supported by carved stone corbels with stiff leaf decoration in the Early English style. The two-bay chancel roof’s purlins incorporate diagonal bracing in the 15th-century style.