Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin dates back to the early 12th century and is situated on the north-west side of High Street in Asendon. It comprises a nave and south aisle from around 1200, extended westwards, with a chancel rebuilt around 1290 and a west tower added in the 15th century. A clerestory was introduced later. The church is constructed of rubblestone with ashlar dressings, topped with lead roofs except for the chancel, which retains old tiles.

The church consists of a two-bay chancel, a three-bay nave with a south aisle, a west tower, and a south porch. The chancel features 16th-century windows with four-centred lights under square heads and moulded labels, with a three-light window to the east and a two-light window to the south. Weathered diagonal buttresses are present. The south nave clerestory has three windows of two trefoiled lights with tracery in two-centred heads. The south aisle has two windows; the right-hand window is from around 1300 with three lights and tracery, while the left is smaller and dated to around 1330. A 14th-century doorway has chamfered and moulded jambs and arch, and the west wall contains a 13th-century lancet light alongside an 18th-century lancet. The north nave wall features a central round-arched doorway, now blocked, with herringbone masonry up to the clerestory sill level. Evidence of a former north chapel is visible in the east bay, including its roofline, arch jambs, and a blocked opening leading to a former rood loft. A 12th-century lancet is located at the west end, accompanied by a stepped buttress and two clerestory windows.

The two-stage west tower has diagonal buttresses on its west face. The west doorway has a depressed head and moulded jambs. Above, a two-light window has trefoiled lights and tracery. Single-light belfry openings and a plain parapet complete the tower’s exterior.

Inside, the chancel north wall contains a tomb recess with an arch featuring a flat arch with an ogeed centre and crockets, housing a late 13th-century recumbent stone effigy of a knight. A plain 13th-century trefoil head piscina is set within the south wall. The chancel arch, dating from around 1290, has two chamfered orders with semi-octagonal responds, bases, and caps. The nave features rood loft entries high up at the east end. The arcade has two east bays similar to the chancel arch, with octagonal pier. The west bay showcases a 12th-century pointed arch with chamfered jambs and a hollow chamfer abacus. A blocked 1290 arch leads from the north side of the nave to the former north chapel, where a stone screen wall is present with a blocked squint on the left and a four-centred arched door on the right, along with a blocked 12th-century doorway. The tower arch has plain jambs and two hollow chamfered orders that die into the responds.

The chancel roof is from the 18th or 19th century and has a wagon design. The nave roof is 16th-century with tie beams, wall posts on corbels, moulded rafters, purlins, and ridge purlin brackets to the tie beams, incorporating short king posts. The south aisle roof is 15th-century with chamfered principals and purlins, with wall plates that are moulded, and curved brackets on stone head corbels, some with tracery spandrels. A circular, tapering font with roll moulding at the bottom dates from the 12th century, accompanied by a 17th-century wooden font cover. A 1700s pulpit stands on a modern base. The 15th-century tower newel door consists of two planks, and several 18th-century wall tablets are displayed. Moulded lead rainwater heads are situated on the south clerestory exterior.