Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church of substantial architectural importance, combining elements from the 13th to 15th centuries with later alterations and restorations.

The church was built over several phases: the nave and aisles date from the 13th century, the chancel from the later 13th century, the west tower and windows from the 14th century, and the clerestory, north chapel, and porches from the 15th century. The building was restored following a fire in 1828 and underwent further work thereafter.

The exterior is constructed of worn ashlar for the tower and chancel (partly rendered), with dressed stone and flint for the nave and aisles, with some repairs carried out in brick. The building has battlemented parapets (those on the chancel renewed in the 20th century) and lead roofs.

The west tower rises in two stages with angle buttresses and an octagonal stair turret to its south-west corner. The bell-chamber has paired two-light traceried windows, and there is a cusped lancet on the west side. The north and south sides have small intermediate buttresses. The nave features a four-bay clerestory with two-light traceried windows (the tracery renewed in the 20th century). The south aisle has three similar windows, a double-chamfered doorway with a two-centred arch, and a two-light cusped window with a flat head to the east. The south porch has a similar arch and plain parapet. A projection for rood-loft stairs in the angle with the chancel has a small quatrefoil light. The north aisle is similar in treatment but has a 15th-century window of three transomed and cusped lights in a segmental head to the north of the east bay, and a small light with a four-centred head in the west bay. The north porch has four cusped lights to each side. The north chapel has a five-light cusped window with a four-centred head. The chancel has two windows with restored geometric tracery (one two-light to the north and a large five-light to the east). The south side of the chancel has three Perpendicular windows of three cusped lights with four-centred heads, and a small arched door.

The interior is notable for its early architectural features and fine furnishings. The tower arch is triple-chamfered on semi-octagonal piers with moulded caps. The nave has four-bay arcades of double-chamfered arches on similar piers, with the piers between the west bays having plain pilasters to their sides. Traces of another arcaded bay survive to the west. The spandrels of the nave contain 19th-century paintings of angels, with a Christ in Glory depicted over the chancel arch. The south wall of the nave has a four-centred arch to the rood-loft. Aisle bays are divided by moulded stone arches. The north aisle contains a small recess in the west wall, a blocked cusped niche in the north wall, and a double-chamfered arch to the north chapel (now used as a vestry). The south aisle has a blocked four-centred arch to the west, an ogee piscina, a tall narrow ogee niche to the right of the east window, and remains of rood-loft stairs. A wide two-centred moulded arch separates the nave from the chancel, with another arch between the chancel and vestry. The interior of the north and east chancel windows have moulded arches on slender shafts. The piscina has a trefoil head, partly cusped, and there is a sedile with a four-centred arch. Fine 15th-century roofs run throughout the church, with moulded beams. The nave roof has braced tie beams on castellated corbels. The chancel roof is also braced, with traceried spandrels on carved head corbels.

The church contains exceptionally fine 15th-century fittings. The octagonal stone font has quatrefoil panels, with a renewed cover retaining a 15th-century carved wooden finial. The octagonal wooden pulpit is partly restored, with side panels featuring small crocketted canopies and a tall sounding board with a rib-vaulted soffit and upper tiers enriched with blind tracery and finials. The screen is partly restored and repainted, with open traceried panels and a rood-loft on a wooden fan vault to the east. The choir stalls have traceried front panels and poppyhead bench ends, with carved misericords and arm-rests on those against the screen. Additional fittings include a 17th-century table with turned balusters, two 17th-century chests, and a 19th-century reredos of glazed tiles in traceried panels.

The church preserves several historic floor brasses and monuments. These include brasses to John Rufford and his three wives dated 1540, to John Swynstede (priest) dated 1395, a tablet to John Killingworth dated 1412, and a brass rose, all located in the north aisle. A brass to Henry Brugis and his wife dated 1647, set in a slab with Ionic pilasters, is in the north chapel. A marble wall tablet to Margaret Bayley and Margaret Theed, dated 1700–1, features a cornice, urn, swags, and cherub heads to the base.