Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is an Anglican parish church with origins in the late 12th century, significantly altered in the late 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries and restored in 1873-75 by William Butterfield. It is constructed of rubble stone with tiled roofs, incorporating coped verges and cross finials. The church follows an aisle-less cruciform plan, augmented by an 1870s south vestry and a north porch.

The gabled north porch features a double-chamfered pointed doorway and double doors from the 1870s. The nave has a pair of cusped ogee-headed lancet windows on either side. An octagonal stair turret, with arrow loopholes and a conical roof, is situated in the angle between the nave and north transept. The north transept, dating to the 13th century, now has a 19th-century three-light Perpendicular-style window, and three stepped lancets to the east. The 14th-century chancel possesses a low moulded pointed doorway with a hoodmould and three 3-light windows with reticulated tracery to the north. The east end displays diagonal buttresses and a large 5-light window with intersecting tracery and an ogee quatrefoil above. The south side of the chancel mirrors the north with three 3-light windows. A 3-light Perpendicular-style window, and a single lancet are found in the south transept. A lean-to vestry is attached to the south side of the nave, notable for its large stone chimney stack and lancets. A blocked pointed doorway and a pair of cusped lancets are found on the north side of the nave, the latter pair now incorporated into the vestry. The west end features diagonal buttresses and a 3-light window of lancets.

The crossing tower, of two stages, has a string course separating the ground stage from the bell stage where two-light, pointed, Perpendicular louvred windows with hoodmoulds are set. Another string course runs along the base of the battlemented parapet.

Inside, the late 12th-century north doorway of the porch retains attached shafts with stylised leaf capitals and a double-chamfered pointed arch. The nave has a 4-bay rafter wagon roof with three tie-beams. The 14th-century crossing is characterised by triple-chamfered arches resting on chamfered square piers, and a quadripartite rib vault with a bell rope hatch and corbels depicting the Signs of the Evangelists. A blocked doorway on the north side of the nave, formerly to a rood loft, is present, as is a pointed doorway in the north transept leading to stairs. The south transept has a scissor-rafter roof and a trefoil-headed piscina on the south wall, while the north transept features a similar roof. The chancel has a pointed barrel vaulted roof with ribbed panels and rosettes, two cambered moulded tie-beams, a polychrome tiled floor, a moulded string course at sill level, and a 14th-century ogee-headed piscina on the south wall. The church contains pews and choir stalls, a hexagonal wood and stone pulpit and communion rail designed by Butterfield, and a square Purbeck marble font with columns and blind trefoiled arcading. Original 14th-century stained glass remains within the south-east window of the chancel, while the remainder of the glass is clear. The Royal Arms of George II are displayed on the south wall of the nave. Monuments include a marble cartouche to Lawrence and Edward Hyde (died 1676) in the chancel, memorials to members of the Wyndham family of Phillips House in the north transept – the finest being to William Wyndham (died 1733), featuring a broken segmental pediment, fluted pilasters and a gadrooned apron - and a stone tablet to Rebecca Madox (died 1695) in the south transept. Stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are also present.