Church Of The Holy Cross

The Church of the Holy Cross is a fairly large parish church, largely dating to the Perpendicular style, with a three-stage tower with a porch set into the south wall of the south aisle. The church incorporates a chancel arch and east window dating to around 1200, and also includes some Anglo-Saxon fragments. The building is constructed of rubble with lead and tile roofs.

The tower features angle buttresses to the first two stages and a set-back belfry stage with a C19 ashlar crenellation, coved cornices with corner gargoyles and carved faces. A two-light square-headed window with a moulded head and drip is on the middle stage, while a two-light foiled window is in the belfry. The four-bay aisled and clerestoried nave has three-light foiled and moulded head windows. The three-bay chancel has an arched two-light, diamond-head window (cusped), and a square-headed window to the south-east of two cusped lights with quatrefoils above, containing a central priest’s door. The stepped east window has a carved rood in a trefoiled niche within a blind oculus below.

Inside, the arcade capitals range between trumpet and stiff-leaf designs. The ceiling features four-centred arch-headed and moulded ties braced from corbels, with cusping in the gaps, along with moulded purlins and rafters. A large late medieval tomb chest is located in the sanctuary, and numerous wall memorials are dedicated to the Calley family. A stone memorial from 1707 commemorates Edward Hellish, depicting him and his family on a corbel of a winged death’s head. A large brass is also situated within the sanctuary. Three fragments of carved medieval stone are set in the east wall of the south aisle, with a smaller fragment of a shaft with a foliate cap below. C18 tables of law are painted on wood in the south aisle, and a C15 traceried bench end is positioned below. A painted screen, depicting six saints and a rood panel, is now located at the back of the north aisle and dates from the late C19.

The church is surrounded by a well-stocked graveyard featuring single and double headstones, and some footstones, predominantly from the C18 layout. Several chest tombs are present, including one dedicated to Elizabeth, wife of William Fridge, who died in 1774 and is located 13 yards south of the south-east aisle window.