Parish Church Of St Mary

The Parish Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building located in Bishopstone, on Church Walk. It was heavily restored in 1868 and 1883, as indicated by the rainwater heads. The church primarily features Perpendicular style architecture, with elements from the Norman and Decorated periods.

The structure includes a west tower, a three-bay aisled nave with stepped buttresses, and a lower two-bay chancel with stepped diagonal buttresses. It is constructed of random rubble and ashlar stone on a moulded plinth, topped with lead roofs. The windows are predominantly two and three-light square-headed, featuring labels and foiled heads. The south side has a two-light clerestory that may have been rebuilt in 1883. A quatrefoil parapet adorns the aisles, which are reminiscent of St Michael's Highworth. The north aisle windows have set-back chamfer surrounds, while the north porch entrance, likely dating from around 1200, appears to have been reset.

Inside the chancel, there is an ornate, reset small Norman doorway decorated with horizontal chevron ornament. The east window of the south aisle showcases early 14th-century reticulated tracery. The crenellated west tower features diagonal buttresses and three set-offs above the plinth level, along with an angled stair turret on the southeast. Gargoyles are present at the cornice, and the belfry has two-light and trefoil windows. A clock is located on the south side, and the west door, dating from 1883, has a typical Tudor arch design with a large three-light Perpendicular style window above it.

Inside, the church has a three-bay arcade with a four-centred arch, one bay shorter on the north side for the porch, and undulating sections to the shafts. An organ is positioned over a steep four-centred chancel arch. A 14th-century head stop has been reset to the east of the north arcade. Three masks, likely from the 12th century, were originally part of a doorway and have been reset above the south door. The late Norman font features a bowl with tongued scallops on a dog-tooth fillet and is supported by clustered shafts. The lectern, pulpit, and parclose screens to the east of the aisles and tower exemplify fine 19th-century Gothic carving. In the chancel, there is a marble tablet commemorating Edith and Chris Willoughby, who died in 1673, topped with a broken segmental pediment. The church also contains fragments of medieval stained glass. The churchyard features several 18th and early 19th-century headstones, along with a few early 19th-century chest tombs.