Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating back to the 13th century, with an early 14th-century north aisle and a largely rebuilt chancel from the early 20th century. It is constructed from coursed rubble and ashlar limestone, with a stone slate roof.

The church comprises a nave with a north aisle, a south porch, and a chancel. A pointed-arched doorway with a chamfered archivolt and hoodmould, dating from the 13th century, is on the south side, with a 18th-century six-panel fielded door. An arched stoup is set into the wall to the right of the doorway. The south porch has a parapet gable with offset buttresses flush to the south face, a moulded pointed-arched opening with a hoodmould, internal stone seats, and an arched braced roof. A 19th-century two-light window with trefoil heads and a square opening with a hoodmould is on the left side of the nave, with a similar two-light window to the right of the porch, and a narrower single-light window to its right. A 13th- or early 14th-century bellcote sits atop the parapet gable at the east end of the nave, featuring an octagonal conical top on four supporting stone posts, with grotesque carved heads at each corner of the base. A large three-light window with intersecting tracery and a hoodmould, dating from the early to mid-14th century, is set into the parapet gable at the west end. The chancel has a two-light east window with quatrefoil tracery and lancets in the side walls. A 20th-century ovolo-moulded two-light square-headed window is located in the north aisle towards the east end.

Inside, the nave and chancel are limewashed. The nave is characterized by an early 14th-century three-bay aisle arcade with octagonal piers, and a 20th-century restored collar-truss nave roof, along with a plain lean-to roof for the aisle. The chancel arch is a plain 13th-century design with a chamfered archivolt, a single corbel above, and to the left. A squint opens from the north aisle to the left, and royal arms painted over the chancel arch depict William after the death of Mary, with initials and a date (1702) overpainted. The 20th-century rebuilt chancel includes a timber-panelled ceiling, a restored piscina and credence shelf in the south wall, a timber brattished rail below the east window with Morris and Co. hangings, and an early 17th-century chancel rail with turned balusters. An octagonal stone font from around 1300 has panelled sides and a pedestal with attached clustered column shafts. Three 15th-century pews at the west end of the nave remain, decorated with crude ball flower motifs, and are remnants of a former complete set. Numerous memorials are dedicated to the Huntley family of Boxwell Court. A marble memorial to Rev. Richard Huntley (died 1831) by Cook of Gloucester features an obelisk base and a shrouded urn, while a tablet to the right commemorates Edmund Huntley (died 1803). To the left of the south doorway is a memorial to Revd. Rd. Huntley (died 1728) by Tyley of Bristol. Memorial tablets are also found on each spandrel of the arcade; one to Elizabeth Glase (died 1757) has a flaming urn over a broken pediment, and another to Elizabeth Johnson (died 1775) and Matthew Huntley (died 1768) has fluted pilasters with an open pediment and paterae in the frieze. The church stands in a secluded position adjacent to Boxwell Court.