Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a parish church dating back to circa 1300, with later additions in circa 1500 and a late 19th-century restoration. It is constructed of granite rubble, partly rendered, with concrete tile roofs. The church comprises a nave with north and south aisles under a single roof, a chancel, north and south transepts, and a tall west tower. The aisles feature 2 and 3-light lancet windows from the 19th century. The chancel has a 3-light east window with reticulated tracery. Chapels are located north and south of the chancel, and a small, reused 13th-century moulded doorway is found in the vestry. The transepts have 4-light perpendicular windows; the north window has restored tracery, and the east side of the north transept has 3-light lancets. A south porch features a 2-centred moulded arch and a waggon roof with carved bosses and a moulded inner south doorway. The circa 1300 west tower has two stages, a batter, and an embattled parapet, with 2-light bell openings, loops to internal stairs on the north side, and a chamfered 2-centred arch west doorway.

Inside, the circa 1500 five bay north and south arcades have smaller bays leading to the chapels. The arcades are supported by low, monolithic octagonal granite piers with unmoulded capitals and double-chamfered 4-central arches. Waggon roofs cover the nave and south transept, while the aisle and north transept waggon roofs have moulded ribs and carved bosses. The chancel has a 19th-century waggon roof with carved bosses. A moulded wooden cambered arch in the north transept leads to the north chapel, now an organ chamber with a doorway to roof stairs. A tall, plain, undressed 2-centred tower arch is present, with imposts. There is a circa 1500 wooden screen in three sections across the nave and aisles, with perpendicular tracery, rich carving, and retaining colour, including painted figures in wainscot panels – the screen coving is missing. A fine circa 1500 10-sided carved wooden pulpit stands on a goblet stem, also retaining colour. A cusped 2-centred arch piscina is recessed in the south wall of the chancel. The church also contains late 19th-century choir stalls and a stone reredos, as well as seating from 1909, a 19th and 20th-century granite font, and a wall monument in the south transept commemorating Sir Bourchier Wrey, 1826, of Holne Park.