Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is an Anglican parish church, now redundant, dating to the 14th century, with significant alterations in the 15th and 17th centuries and a largely 18th-century interior. The building is constructed of rubble stone with a stone slate roof featuring coped verges. It comprises a nave, chancel, north chapel and vestry, a north aisle, a south porch, and a west spire.

The 14th-century gabled porch has a moulded pointed doorway with a hoodmould and cusped spandrels. A 17th-century tablet with scrolled carving is set into the east wall. The nave features a 2-light Tudor-arched window on the left side and a 2-light square-headed window alongside a 3-light square-headed window with cusped lights on the right. The chancel has a moulded pointed priest’s door to the south side, accompanied by a 14th-century 2-light square-headed window with ogee-headed lights and a hoodmould to the left, and a 3-light square-headed window to the right. The east end is defined by a 3-light Tudor-arched window with pointed lights and a hoodmould, complemented by diagonal buttresses.

A 17th-century north vestry and gallery has a hollow-chamfered east doorway leading to the gallery, above which is a single-light hollow-chamfered window. The north side of the vestry displays three 3-light mullioned windows with segmental cusped lights, one for each floor. The north aisle incorporates diagonal buttresses and three 3-light square-headed windows with Tudor-arched cusped lights. A blocked doorway features a scalloped head and scrolled hoodmould. The west end of the nave incorporates a 2-light square-headed window with arched lights positioned either side of a central buttress which rises to an octagonal stone bell turret. This turret has small square louvres and a short ashlar spire.

Inside, the porch features stone benches and a 2-bay plastered, pointed ceiling with ribs, alongside a chamfered inner doorway. The nave exhibits a shallow barrel-vaulted plastered ceiling, while the chancel has a flat plastered ceiling. There is no discernible chancel arch. A 15th-century four-bay north arcade has moulded pointed arches with panelled soffits and chamfered square piers. A tie-beam roof, originally plastered, runs for eight bays. The 17th-century vestry, located off the north side of the chancel, contains a 19th-century fireplace and fitted cupboards. Above the vestry is a family gallery, accessible by a separate staircase, with a panelled front and a 3-bay tie-beam roof.

The church contains notable 18th-century fittings, including a west gallery with a panelled front and an octagonal pulpit with a tester, accessible by steps, positioned centrally on the south side. Box pews of various dates are present, with particularly well-preserved late Medieval pews in the west end. A recut 15th-century octagonal stone font is situated at the west end. The Royal Arms of George III are displayed over the chancel. A communion rail with stick balusters and a ramped handrail dates to the 18th century. The Lords Prayer is painted on the north wall of the aisle, and fragments of wall paintings are visible on the south wall. A wall tablet in the chancel commemorates Edward Line, who died in 1744. The building is now under the care of the Redundant Churches Fund.