Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Small Anglican church of early 12th-century origin, partly rebuilt by John Cartwright in 1642 (as confirmed by an inscription on the exterior of the east gable end) and extended in the 19th century.

The church comprises a nave with a vestry at right angles, a chancel, and a bell turret running east from the east end of the nave. The nave is constructed of limestone rubble, while the chancel is partly rubble and partly coursed, squared and dressed limestone where rebuilt. The bell turret is rendered with a red tile roof, and the building is roofed with stone slate.

The south wall of the nave features a trefoil-headed lancet to the right and a central plank door with a 12th-century lintel decorated with a Maltese cross in relief, flanked by chip-carved rosettes with pellet decoration. The north wall has a buttress with offsets at the north-east corner and a segmental-headed 3-light window with hollow-moulded mullions, with a restored head and hood. The 19th-century vestry has a 2-light trefoil-headed north window. The west end of the nave appears to have been rebuilt when a tall Perpendicular west window was inserted.

The chancel south wall has a trefoil-headed lancet in the rubble-built section and a flat-chamfered plinth in the rebuilt section. An 18th-century 2-light window with stilted-headed lights, casement frame and quirked mouldings to the mullions features leaded panes with leaf-shaped panes at the top. The segmental-headed 3-light east window has mullions with quirked mouldings, trefoil-headed tracery and a stopped hood. Above it is a rectangular inscription panel reading 'JAMES CARTWRIGHT / DID NEWLY : BUILD : VP / THIS CHANCELL / ANO DOMI : 1642'. A single-light 18th-century window similar to the south wall lights the north wall. Traces of white limewash remain on the chancel. The simple squat gabled bell turret has small trefoil-headed belfry windows with wooden surrounds and an axial weathervane. Stepped gable-end coping and upright cross finials mark the gable ends of the nave and chancel.

The interior is limewashed throughout. The nave comprises 3 bays and the chancel 2 bays. The roof appears to date from the late 16th or early 17th century, with collar and tie-beam construction featuring jewelled stops to the tie-beam and run-out stops to the collar. The chancel has simple collar-beam trusses with 2 massive tie-beams with triangular stops supporting the belfry.

The flooring is flagged. A small 12th-century chancel arch with imposts features a small trefoil-headed squint to the right and a larger squint to the left. Three late 19th to early 20th-century pews occupy the rear, with loose seating elsewhere. An 18th-century panelled pulpit is set within a raised rectangular enclosure. A 19th-century harmonium sits in the south-east corner. A Perpendicular octagonal font is positioned at the centre of the chancel. Simple 19th-century communion rails with stick balusters are present. A small late 18th to early 19th-century chest and an 18th-century chair with floral inlay are also retained, together with a simple 20th-century altar table.

Traces of wall paintings from the 12th century and later appear on all four walls of the nave and in the splay of the 12th-century window, including a consecration cross within a double circle painted in red. Monuments include a black and white marble monument to Rev. Evan Clerk (died 1837) on the south wall of the nave, a slatestone monument to Esther Martin (died 1801) on the north wall with a triangular pediment with foliate decoration and painted green and red ornament, and a white and black marble monument to Robert Prance J.P. (died 1869) on the east wall. A small ledger with segmental ends in front of the chancel arch commemorates Elizabeth West (died 1751), and various 18th-century ledgers remain in the nave, concealed by carpet. A George IV hatchment hangs above the chancel arch.