Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary, East Worlington, has origins in the 12th century, with a 15th-century chancel. The nave and tower were completely rebuilt in 1879 by Clark of Newmarket for the 5th Earl of Portsmouth, with Mr Selly of Witheridge acting as the builder. The 12th-century doorway in the nave is the only remaining feature from the earlier church, while the chancel was also resurfaced and reroofed during the 1879 works. Constructed from local stone from the now disused Coombe Quarry, with some Bathstone dressings, the church is built with snecked rubble walls and gabled slate roofs, featuring coped verges and crested clay ridges to the nave and porch.

The church is laid out with a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch, and is built in a loose neo-Norman style, characterised by its simplicity and small scale, which is atypical for the 1870s. The squat, three-stage tower has battlements and false machicolations, a semi-circular arched west window flanked by shafts, bullseye windows to the ringing-chamber stage, semi-circular arched bell openings with nook shafts and louvers. The nave has two hook-shafted semi-circular arched windows to the south and three 15th-century style square-headed two-light windows to the north. The chancel has a semi-circular arched Norman lancet to the north, two cinquefoiled square-headed 15th-century two-light windows to the south, and an east window of the restoration with 13th-century style intersecting tracery. A simple gabled porch has a Norman inner doorway; the outer arch moulding is decorated with zig-zag and rests on a beak-head to the left, with three inner arch bands of saltire crosses.

Inside, the walls are roughly plastered with a stone-coloured colourwash, with scribing to resemble ashlar around the windows. The floors are concrete, tile, and encaustic tile. The nave has a simple 19th-century arch-braced collar-beam roof supported by corbels, while the chancel has a 19th-century tie-beam roof. Neo-Norman arches define the tower and chancel. Original fittings from 1879 remain, including simple stained pine pews, a neo-Norman font with a cover, a pulpit, a lectern, choir stalls, reader’s rails, and altar rails. An elaborate wood-panelled altar table may be slightly later. A wall monument of 1668 in the chancel commemorates Bridget Colman, featuring a central inscription panel, flanking cherubs, and a family achievement. Four early and mid-19th-century wall monuments are in the Classical style. A plaque commemorates the rebuilding. Stained glass is present in the south chancel window, with the top light being 15th-century and the remainder late 19th-century work. Nave windows and windows under the tower have cast-iron casements with diamond-paned, obscured lights. A charity plaque from 1834 is situated under the tower. A 20th-century overpainting obscures the Stuart Royal Arms in the nave.