Church Of St Mary

Church of St. Mary

This parish church is possibly of 11th-century origin, with a late 12th-century chancel, 14th-century tower, and chancel restoration dated around 1867. It is constructed of random rubble limestone with ashlar porch, tower, and dressings, and has a stone slate roof.

The building comprises a nave without aisles, a west tower, a south porch, and a chancel. The south doorway features a chevron arch with a pair of attached columns having scalloped capitals and moulded bases. The heavily restored 13th-century porch has a moulded pointed arch springing from stone corbel brackets with nailhead enrichment; its roof is 19th-century with a parapet gable. To the left of the porch is an Early English lancet. To the right, a break in the masonry indicates late 12th-century enlargement of the nave. Immediately to the right of this break is a 2-light window with 3-centred arched heads in a square opening, matching a window in the north wall opposite. Beyond the break is a 2-light window with reticulated tracery to the head. Offset buttresses stand at the east corners of the nave, with a parapet at the east end of the roof. A blocked square-headed north doorway has long and short jamb stones and a deep stone lintel with canted top; the west jamb is partly obscured by a 19th-century buttressed chimney.

The chancel has a single small round-headed Norman east window with a 19th-century triplet inserted above, which breaks the string course. Clasping corner buttresses are present. The north and south chancel walls each have a central tall lancet flanked by flat buttresses, with a further trefoil-headed lancet to the west. The corbel table to the eaves features an extensive set of Norman grotesques.

The 3-stage tower has diagonal offset buttresses to the west side only and continuous plinth moulding. A projecting canted stair turret to the south has a raking top and very small slit windows. A 2-light Perpendicular west window with panel tracery and hood mould is present. Small trefoil-headed windows appear in the south and west of the ringing chamber; the south window has a stone sundial mounted above. Carved heads linked by a moulded string course appear below the belfry. A small trefoil-headed lancet is positioned on the east side of the belfry; other openings are ogee-headed with stone louvres. A crenellated parapet features diagonal carved corner gargoyles below, linked by a moulded string course also embellished with carved animal heads central to the tower faces.

The interior has been scraped and ribbon pointed throughout. Both nave doorways are round-headed internally, as are the nave windows. A 14th-century pointed tower arch is present. The moulded pointed chancel arch is probably also 14th-century, with a surviving Tudor-arched head to a high-level rood loft doorway at the top of stone stairs leading from the north side of the chancel arch. The nave has a 19th-century wagon roof.

The main chancel windows have 19th-century cinquefoil rere-arches added, with ballflower terminals to the cusping. The chancel also has a 19th-century wagon roof. The piscina and sedile in the south wall have 19th-century rere-arches. The stone mensa now has 19th-century cinquefoil pierced stone end supports matching the 19th-century cinquefoil pierced stone communion rail. 19th-century choir stalls are present, along with a 19th-century restored timber rood loft bearing a coat of arms and having a moulded choir screen below. A 19th-century octagonal pulpit with moulded stone base and carved panelling above is dated 1885. A trefoil-headed piscina appears in the south wall. A 15th-century stone font has an octagonal bowl decorated with quatrefoil on each face and cinquefoils on the pedestal. Some 15th-century bench ends have three carved poppy heads; many 19th-century copies are based on these. Late 18th and early 19th-century wall memorials are present in the tower. A small lancet in the north chancel wall contains 14th-century stained glass depicting a bishop; otherwise the glass is mostly 19th-century.