Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Anglican parish church built in 1781 by Francis Hiorn of Warwick, with the west tower rebuilt in 1890/91 by Waller, on the site of a previous medieval church. The church is constructed of ashlar with a hipped slate and Cotswold stone slate roof, featuring an embattled parapet. It is an example of elegant Gothic Revival architecture. The church is a large, rectangular 7-bay hall, with single-story "aisles" on either side providing access to the box pews, and a projecting chancel bay to the east and a tower bay to the west. The west tower is a rebuilt medieval structure of five stages with pinnacles and a recessed spire. Features include a rounded stairwell with slit openings, stepped diagonal buttresses, 2-light belfry louvres, gargoyles, a clock face, and elaborate ogee louvres to the spire. The west wall has a tall 4-light window and a large arched doorway. The north and south "aisles" have three single trefoil lights in each bay, topped with an embattled parapet. The nave features very tall windows of four lights with Perpendicular-type tracery and shields in the spandrels. The chancel bay has three tall blind lancets to the north and south, and a five-light east window, with clasped buttresses. The interior is characterised by a sexpartite rib vault, supported by slender clustered wooden colonettes around a central wooden core, and a smaller version supporting a U-shaped gallery at the west end with trefoil-headed panelled front. The nave retains original box pews with carved panelled doors, and access to side pews is provided through pointed arch panelled doors from the side aisle passages. Original reredos flank an altarpiece by Benjamin West. Two contemporary brass chandeliers hang in the nave. Stained glass is by Wailes, with one window by Clayton and Bell. Some original fittings were removed in 1900. A fine collection of wall monuments, mainly in white and grey marble, are grouped in the north east corner and in the gallery. The tower contains monuments to the Paul family, while a monument to the Saunders family of Upton Grove is located in the west passage near the north west door. Remnants of medieval effigies from the original church are in the north aisle passage.