Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

An Anglican parish church of 13th-century origin, with 14th and 15th-century additions. The tower was restored in 1719, and a major restoration including the construction of a north aisle was undertaken by Thomas Fulljames. The building is constructed of coursed blue lias with sandstone detailing.

The church comprises a nave with a projecting south porch, a north aisle with an entrance to a vault at its west end, a chancel with a vestry on the north side, and a west tower. Stone slate roofs cover the structure.

The chancel has diagonal buttresses. Its south wall contains a 19th-century pointed two-light window on the left and a three-light window in a rectangular surround on the right. The east wall features a 19th-century three-light window with 14th-century style flowing tracery and a hood with head stops, above which is a pointed trefoil light with a hood with foliate stops. The north wall contains a three-light window matching those on the south wall and a three-light trefoil-headed window. A shouldered opening with an iron grille door provides access to the vault. Stone eaves cornicing around the vestry and vault is carved with floral and foliate bosses. A 19th-century plank door with a round-headed surround and trefoil upper light is located in the east-facing wall of the vestry.

The north aisle contains a 19th-century three-light east window with a hood bearing carved head stops, and a 19th-century plank door with decorative strap hinges and a similar hood. Stone eaves cornice incorporates ballflower decoration. A 19th-century pointed west window with a carved-head-stop hood is also present. Two ogee cusped trefoil-headed niches with foliate spandrels are positioned high up in the east end of the north aisle, with a blocked segmental-pointed niche above the window.

The three-stage tower displays 13th-century work in its lower stages and 14th or 15th-century work in the upper stage. A stair vice is positioned at the north-east corner. The Decorated style west window is two-light and partly restored. Second-stage lancet windows are present, while the third stage contains two-light pointed belfry windows with quatrefoils. A string divides the second and third floors. The parapet is battlemented with cross finials on each side, and a string below features gargoyles offset from each corner. A shield dated 1719 on the south face marks a restoration. A stone sundial with gnomon sits at the south-east corner of the nave.

The nave's south wall has clamp buttresses and contains 19th-century two-light pointed windows with tracery on either side of the porch. To the right of the porch is a two-light pointed window with cinquefoil-headed lights (restored in the 19th century) beneath a scroll-moulded hood with head stops.

The gabled porch has a timber-arched entrance, restored in the 19th century but retaining some 16th-century timbers. Above the collar is a T-shaped strut with a trefoil at the apex. A 16th-century bargeboard with carved foliate decoration spans the gable. The 19th-century side walls feature wood-mullioned unglazed openings above waist height. Within the porch, a 16th-century truss against the south wall of the nave forms an almost pointed hollow-chamfered archway. Original roof timbers include a single tier of windbraces. The porch floor is flagged and incorporates 18th-century stone ledges. An early plank door with 19th-century cover strips featuring trefoil-headed tracery at the top is fitted within a flat-chamfered rectangular surround. The door retains its original cross member with brattished moulding at the top and moulded soffit, together with an early lock set in a heavy wooden block on the back. A mass dial is carved on the lintel above.

The interior presents a painted 4-bay nave arcade with octagonal piers. Each capital features a ballflower band and a moulded hood with angel steps. A double-chamfered arch of 13th or 14th-century date opens to the tower. The arch from nave to chancel is a 19th-century segmental-pointed design, as is the wide segmental-pointed arch in the north wall of the chancel which contains a 19th-century plank door to the vestry within a blocking.

A very small trefoil-headed piscina occupies the south wall of the chancel to the right of the altar.

The nave roof is 14th-century with two bays and wagon form, featuring an original tie beam with moulded soffit. The tie beam against the chancel arch displays brattished decoration along its upper edge and four-leafed flower decoration on its soffit, with a carved bird at its centre. Above this beam stands a stone figure of Christ crucified on a wooden cross, flanked by two stone figures. Four-leafed flower decoration continues down the soffit of the braces, which carry carved spandrels supported by carved wooden angel corbels. The north aisle roof is 19th-century arch-braced with collar and struts. The chancel roof is 19th-century and panelled, with angel corbels in stone.

Flooring comprises red and grey tiling in the nave and north aisle, with some encaustic tiling concentrated in the chancel sanctuary.

The font, positioned at the west end of the nave, is a 12th-century tub-shaped design on a chamfered rectangular plinth. A 19th-century pulpit in the south-west corner incorporates reused carved 17th-century panels. Pews are 19th-century, some incorporating 15th or 16th-century bench ends with blind tracery. A 19th-century wooden reredos stands behind a 19th-century wooden altar.

Monuments within the church include several of historical significance. In the chancel north wall, a Jacobean-Renaissance cream and grey marble monument to Henry Brown (died 1620) features Corinthian columns and heraldry. A white marble monument to John Barnes of Tirley Court (died 1820) has an urn at its top and branches at the bottom. A 19th-century white monument occupies a blocking within a segmental-pointed arch below. A limestone chest tomb to Dorothy Pauncefoot (died 1568) is divided into three panels on its right side with raised moulded margins, each containing a heraldic shield, with additional shields at the west end. In the chancel south wall, a blue lias monument to James Alderson, former rector (died 1604), has a curved top with a crudely inscribed winged angel and floral decoration. An oval tablet to Anne, wife of John Price (died 1707), features simple incised foliate decoration around its margin. The north aisle contains a brass plaque to Thomas Fulljames of Hasfield Court (died 1847) and other family members, with ivy-leaf decoration around the margin and paired heraldic shields at each corner. The inscription records the building of the north aisle in memory of Thomas Fulljames by his nephew, also named Thomas Fulljames.

19th-century stained glass fills all chancel windows, the east end of the north aisle, and the west window within the tower.