Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Anglican parish church, predominantly 15th century, though the tower dates to the 13th century and the chancel is partly 14th century. The building underwent substantial restoration in the 19th century.

The exterior is constructed of coursed local rubble, with coursed and squared stonework to the tower and some Bathstone dressings. The roof comprises a continuous gabled slated nave and chancel roof with clay ridge tiles, an aisle with a gabled roof with lead ridge, and a slate roof to the porch with clay ridge tiles. The tower is topped with a timber twisted broach spire clad with shingles, which was restored in 1908 and features a lead capping and weathercock.

The building is laid out as a nave, chancel, south aisle, south porch, and west tower, all in the Perpendicular style.

The tower is a broad, squat structure with large quoins to the west. It features a 3-light west window with a stilted arch head, where the centre light reaches up to the apex while the flanking lights terminate lower down, with a label that continues as a weathered drip around the tower. Below this is a pointed-arch west doorway with two orders of cavetto mouldings and a studded plank door. The spire was restored after a lightning strike but retains some of its early structure.

The nave has two 2-light trefoiled square-headed windows to the north with labels. The north side of the chancel has a similar window which appears to be a 19th-century replacement. The 3-bayed aisle has 2-stage buttresses with offsets and fine-traceried 3-light Perpendicular windows.

The small gabled porch has a very plain outer door opening. Inside, the porch has a slate floor and wooden benches on either side on a rubble base. The porch features a 15th-century waggon roof with moulded ribs, the bosses of which were replaced in the 19th century. A leaf frieze runs along the wallplate, partly original and partly recarved. The inner door opening is Perpendicular in style with moulded decoration, and has a 19th-century plank door with medieval-style iron hinges.

The east window is in the 13th-century style with 3 lights and intersecting tracery, possibly replacing an earlier window of the same style.

Interior

The interior walls have had plaster removed, except in the chancel. Floors are slate, with the exception of the chancel which has a Victorian High Gothic encaustic tile pavement. The tower arch is simply double-chamfered, probably dating to the 15th century, and there is no chancel arch.

The 3-bay arcade to the aisle has Pevsner's B-type piers with standard Devon capitals featuring angel figures, a mask, and blank shields alongside the usual leaf decoration.

The aisle has a 15th-century waggon roof in the same style as the porch, with moulded ribs and bosses (the central boss painted with the Virgin and Child). A cornice with a leaf frieze runs along the wallplate. The nave has a 16th-century waggon roof, restored in the 19th century, with moulded ribs and painted bosses, and a wallplate with a pierced frieze. The chancel has a 19th-century ceiled waggon roof.

A good set of carved 16th-century bench ends features geometrical patterns, tracery, and floral carving in relief, with some 19th-century copies. A seat in the aisle has a back of 17th-century panelling. Fielded pine dado panelling lines the north wall of the nave and the south wall of the aisle.

A traceried parclose screen with Pevsner's A-type tracery is present. A 14th-century piscina stands in the chancel.

Much of the furnishings are Victorian High Gothic, including the pulpit, lectern, altar rails, and altar table. A wall monument to Thomas Stucle of 1663 features flanking Corinthian columns, a pediment, strapwork ornament, cherubs, and an achievement, coloured and gilded. There is also a late 19th-century wall monument. A painted plaque above the south door reads "John Cook Warden 1726". Georgian Royal Arms are displayed. Much of the old glass in the windows is probably 18th century, comprising clear panes with irregular canes. Fragments of medieval stained glass appear in the top lights of the west window of the south aisle. Stained glass windows to the chancel date to 1890 and to the aisle to 1908.

Under the tower stands a parish chest dated 1690, an early 19th-century strong box, and a charity plaque dated 1835. The 15th-century ring-chamber floor has moulded ribs framed in six panels.