Church Of St Matthias

The Church of St Matthias is a parish church dating back to the 11th century, with later additions and alterations, including a chancel rebuilt in 1838. The church is constructed of flint with limestone dressings, with a red brick chancel. It has thatched roofing over the nave and slate roofs over the chancel and south porch.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, and south porch. The west tower is late 11th century, featuring a lower stage with small round-headed lancet windows with head-corbels above, on the north, south, and west sides. A restored west window has a semi-circular head. Pilaster shafts with tapered stone capping and corbel heads are located above the nave wall junctions on the north and south sides. The upper stage has tall, shallow blank arcading. The 12th-century bell stage has two-light bell openings with semi-circular roll-moulded arches, shafts with cushion capitals (the central shaft ringed), and brickwork raising the cill. A 15th-century embattled parapet uses flint chequerwork.

The 14th-century south porch has diagonal gable buttresses and blocked two-light east and west windows with quatrefoil heads. The doorway features engaged polygonal shafts and capitals, with a double wave moulding on the outer arch. The south nave wall contains two 15th-century two-light Perpendicular windows, the eastern window apparently renewed or restored.

The red brick chancel of 1838 includes large staged buttresses and later Gothic Revival windows; the south-east window is blank. Window openings have rubbed brick arches with keystones. The east gable has diagonal buttresses, and the apex and parapet are rendered. A three-light east window with cusped Y tracery is present. The north wall of the chancel is blind. The north wall of the nave has a 13th-century lancet window and a two-light window with Y tracery. A simple semi-circular north doorway is blocked in flintwork, and a plain south doorway features a roll-moulded arch.

Inside, the nave and chancel roofs were renewed, likely in the 19th century, with boarded ceilings. Remains of a rood stair are visible in the northeast corner of the nave. The southeast nave window is set in a wide, triple-chamfered arch, which is now partly cut by a chancel arch abutment. A 13th-century double arched recess with a shelf is set into the west wall of the nave, and there is a small, blocked circular window with a splayed reveal at a high level. A monument on the north wall of the chancel commemorates Thomas London (died 1661), a tablet with an architrave and scroll pediment on consoles. The font is made of Purbeck marble, with a square bowl featuring four shallow blind arches on each face, set on a round stem and four corner shafts, and dates to the 12th century.