Church Of St. Mary

The Church of St. Mary is a small parish church largely dating to the 15th century, with fabric also likely from the 16th century in the nave, chancel, and west tower. It has undergone extensive restoration, refenestration, and rebuilding of the upper section of the tower and a refacing of the chancel in the 19th century. The church is built of unrendered stone rubble, with the nave rendered, and has slate roofs to the chancel and nave. Coped parapets with apex crosses complete the exterior.

The plan comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, and a south porch. The squat west tower has two stages; the upper stage was rebuilt in the 19th century with high embattled parapets and small square bell openings on each face. Set-back buttresses and a massive relieving arch above a small 2-light 19th-century window mark the west end. A blocked doorway is topped with a plain, slightly cambered stone lintel. The 19th-century south porch has a gabled slate roof and a virtually semi-circular arched doorway with a segmental arched inner doorway. The nave and east end each feature a 3-light window in the 19th-century Perpendicular style.

Inside, the chancel has a wagon roof dating from the 15th or early 16th century, featuring a crenellated wall-plate with florated decoration at intervals, moulded ribs, and human head bosses along the central rib. The nave has a 19th-century wagon roof. The chancel arch is from the 15th or early 16th century, with an ogee and hollow moulded surround. A late 17th or early 18th-century communion rail features barley sugar balusters and a polygonal drum pulpit with raised and fielded panelled sides. Stone flag floors remain, with some worn late medieval patterned tiles. An unusual “screen” divides the chancel; it comprises a 19th-century timber base supporting narrow 18th-century headrails with small turned balusters. These are surmounted by elaborate and delicate wrought iron open traceried panels, possibly reused from family chest tombs. The panel on the left is dated 1743 and the panel on the right is dated 1737. Each panel has three bays, with fluted pilasters and Corinthian capitals surmounted by Classical torches on the left side, and placed over the two outer bays on the right. Both panels display central heraldic shields with elaborate scrollwork. Bench ends are in a style reminiscent of the late 15th or early 16th century with elaborate Perpendicular and foliated tracery. The font has a lead-lined octagonal bowl, a short stem, and a square base.

Monuments include a timber board with a painted verse from Philippians IV, v.6, and an early 18th-century wall monument to William Webber, featuring an oval medallion, a skull at the base, and angels at the head. A small wall tablet on the south side commemorates Mary Cornwall and Mrs Elston, referencing an adjoining monument. Two plaster medallions with busts in relief are located above the south doorway.