Church of St Mary the Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is an Anglican parish church. Its origins lie in the early 12th century with the construction of the nave, followed by the addition of a chancel in the 13th century. Alterations occurred in the 14th century, and the tower and nave were heightened in the mid 15th century. Restoration took place around 1858 by G.E. Street, and a southeast chapel was added; further restoration occurred in the 1880s. The church is constructed of coursed and dressed stone, with a stone slate roof to the chancel and chapel, and a visible nave roof.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, central tower, north and south porches, and a southeast chapel. The tower is large, spanning three stages with offsets and stepped diagonal buttresses that rise to crocketed pinnacles and an openwork parapet. It features three-light belfry openings on each side, with stone mullions and arched hoodmoulds with carved stops. The middle stage has a small single light with a square hoodmould, framed by a square with three concave moulded lights, the central one blind. The lowest stage has large four-light windows to the north and south, with a king mullion, two transoms, and Perpendicular tracery; a single light is above the south window, and a niche is present on the north side. A clock face is on the north side of the tower.

The nave retains the splayed round arch single-lights of the Norman period, along with a zig-zag moulded string course. Decorated windows were added in the 14th century. The mid-15th century clerestory features three three-light cusped trefoil-head windows, each with a square hoodmould and string course with grotesques. The north porch has a Norman doorway with a chevron arch and carved shafts. The porch itself is of the early 16th century, incorporating an ogee-headed niche flanked by crocketed pinnacles on the east wall – a typical regional feature – and a four-centred archway with concave mouldings and angel shields. The gable was rebuilt in the late 19th century. A Norman doorway is said to exist within the south porch, but was inaccessible during a survey in March 1985. The late 13th/early 14th century chancel includes a three-light trefoil-head lancet, with a cusped sexfoil at the east end, and a three-light Decorated window with reticulated tracery and a small blocked trefoil-head doorway on the north side. The chapel, by Street from 1858, possesses two three-light windows with reticulated tracery on its south side.

Inside, the nave has an eight-bay roof with three tiers of arched wind bracing. Corbels are present at the east end of the nave, indicating a former rood screen. The tower contains a doorway in the north-west corner, a lierne vault decorated with heraldry from 1862, and stone seats along the side walls. Fine stained glass by Kempe is found in the north window. The chancel features a wagon roof, with a painted ciborium likely dating to the same period as the tower decoration. Plaster was removed from the chancel walls, probably when Street opened up a two-bay arcade to form the south chapel. A large Perpendicular tomb is situated on the north wall, displaying two mutilated seated figures and a recumbent effigy which is probably of an earlier date. Street also designed the pulpit, which has been painted with marble, and choir stalls with fanning leaf finials.