Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a small Anglican church dating back to the 13th century, consecrated in 1269. It was largely altered in the 14th century, primarily to the chancel, and was restored in 1872-4 by James Brooks. The church is constructed of rubble stone, partly coursed, with small sloping buttresses to the east and south ends, and has a stone slate roof with coped verges and cross finials. The architectural style is mainly Early English, with some Decorated elements.

The church has a cruciform plan, comprising a nave and chancel, north and south transepts, and a crossing tower. A south porch and a late north vestry, built of different stone and with a catslide roof, are also present. The one-stage crossing tower is square, with twin belfry lancets on each face, a sill band, a string course, and an embattled parapet with corner gargoyles. The nave and transepts have single or twin lancet windows, with a string course below. The gabled porch, located in the centre of the south wall, features an Early English moulded archway. The chancel has three 2-light 14th-century windows on the south side; one twin trefoil-headed window in an arched surround near the crossing, and two twin ogee-headed windows in square moulded surrounds, the central one truncated by a tomb recess. The east window is of 3 lights with three tiers of trefoils above and a double border of ballflowers.

Inside, the nave roof has five bays; it was restored and lowered, likely in the 1870s, but retains original medieval curved bracing to tie the beams. Wagon roofs cover the transepts and chancel. The crossing has a simple pointed arch with four triple-stepped arches carried on angled piers with polygonal attached columns on the inner faces. A shouldered arch above, originally accessed by a stairway from the nave to the ringing chamber of the tower, is also present. The chancel features a restored tomb recess in the north-east corner, potentially from around 1310, with a cusped cinquefoil canopy, an ogee arch, and shield panels to a chest. A triple hagioscope, originally providing a view of the chancel from a side chapel, has since been removed. On the south side, there are four crocketed and pinnacled canopies from the 14th century, incorporating a piscina, credence, and three sedilia, adjoined by an ogee tomb recess which projects from the back wall. Fragments of medieval stained glass are set into several chancel windows, including a complete quatrefoil of St Michael in the south-east corner. The north transept has several wall memorials, including a large painted stone memorial to Dr James Vaulx, depicting him with his two wives as three half-length portrait effigies and predella panels of kneeling children, dating from around 1625. A lectern inscribed "Christian Jacketts 1622" with its original chain for the bible is also present. An almsbox predating the 1547 edict requiring all boxes to have three locks has only one lock.