Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is a parish church dating back to the early 12th century, with a 14th-century tower and a restoration of around 1850 that saw the addition of a chancel, vestry, and porch. The church is constructed from random rubble limestone with ashlar dressings, coursed and squared limestone for the 19th-century additions, and a stone slate roof.

The church comprises a nave without aisles, a west tower, a north porch, a south vestry, and a chancel. A central south doorway is now blocked, featuring a deep flat stone lintel and quoins. To the left is a two-light Early English lancet window, and a buttress extends from the tower. To the right is a 15th-century two-light window with Tudor-arched heads. A central north doorway has a square head, a medieval door, and a 15th-century closing ring. It’s approached by an external flight of stone steps and has a 19th-century parapet gabled porch with a chamfered pointed arch. A 15th-century two-light window is positioned at high level to the left, and a 14th-century two-light window with trefoil-headed lancets is further left.

The saddleback tower has three stages with clasping buttresses to the west corners of the lower stage. A single slit window on the south side of the lower stage has a slightly chamfered monolithic surround. A pointed arched doorway provides access to the ringing chamber on the north side, leading to a plank door. A small trefoil-headed lancet is visible on the west face of the ringing chamber, along with a small trefoil-headed belfry opening on each tower face. The east parapet gable to both the nave and chancel features a tall east lancet. Central trefoil-headed lancets are found on the north and south walls. The south vestry has parapet gables to the east and west, a shouldered archway to the south doorway with a plank door, and a west-facing trefoil-headed lancet.

The interior’s walls are unscraped and limewashed. Round-headed inner arches are present at the north and south doorways. A low, blocked pointed arch defines the tower doorway, while a Norman chancel arch is unmoulded with chamfered abaci and pier jambs on the west face. The nave features a three-bay 15th-century crown post roof. The east chancel wall is modelled by a triplet, the central arch pierced by the east window, with round-headed and splayed openings to the north and south windows. A pointed arched doorway provides access to the vestry. The chancel has a barrel roof. A 19th-century timber chancel rail is in place, along with a partially defaced Stuart hatchment above the chancel arch. The church also contains 18th-century box-pews and a pulpit. A trefoil-headed image niche is located on the east splay of the nave window above the pulpit. The lead-lined octagonal stone font dates from the 15th century, with quatrefoil decorations on each face and a complex pentagonal stem with gabled buttresses. A small 15th-century roundel of stained glass in the south window depicts St. James of Compostella. The church was originally gas-lit. A medieval coffin lid lies to the west of the north porch, featuring an incised cross. The church’s interior offers a notable absence of extensive 19th-century restoration, with the replacement chancel designed in a simple style.