Church Of St Mary

Church of St. Mary

This church originated in the early 13th century but is primarily of the late 13th and 14th centuries, with the west tower rebuilt in the 18th century and a north chapel added in 1862. It is constructed of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, and is roofed with lead.

The church consists of an aisled nave and chancel, a west tower, and a south porch. The south elevation of the chancel has a single window range with a 14th-century three-light window featuring reticulated tracery. A south chapel abuts one bay of the chancel, with a shallow gabled roof topped by a castellated ashlar parapet. A five-light Perpendicular east window with a castellated gable parapet above lights the east end. The north elevation of the chancel similarly has a one-window range with a three-light Perpendicular window, with a north chapel positioned symmetrically to the south chapel.

The south aisle comprises three window ranges, including the south chapel. A central 14th-century three-light window with reticulated tracery is flanked by two- and three-light Perpendicular windows, separated by three-stage ashlar buttresses. The lean-to roof features a castellated ashlar parapet and two gargoyles. Nineteenth-century two- and three-light windows light the east and west ends. The porch in the left-hand bay is a Perpendicular structure with a large castellated parapet and gargoyles. The outer arch has a four-centred head with cluster shafts, and the interior walls contain triple arcading with cluster shafts.

The north aisle, including the north chapel, has a four-window range. Three 14th-century three-light square-head windows occupy the centre and right positions, each with carved label stops, while a three-light 19th-century window lights the far left. A north door stands between a window and two-stage buttresses. A castellated ashlar parapet with a corbel table and central gargoyle crowns this elevation, with additional two- and three-light 19th-century windows to the east and west.

The nave clerestory consists of a three-window range of 14th-century two-light windows with four-centred heads, beneath a shallow gable roof with castellated ashler parapet and two gargoyles to the east side.

The three-stage west tower is unbuttressed, with a flat band between the second and third stages. A west door with a broad single-light pointed window above it occupies the first stage. Square tablets on the west and south faces of the second stage include a clock face on the south side with a sundial above. The third stage has two-light bell-chamber openings on each face featuring 18th-century Gothick tracery with roundels. A plain panelled parapet with moulded cornice sits below obelisk pinnacles with ball finials at the corners. An octagonal wooden cupola with glazed sides and glazing bars crowns the tower, beneath a lead roof with a wrought iron weather vane.

The interior contains a three-bay nave arcade. The south arcade is late 13th century with roll-moulded and chamfered arches, quatrefoil piers, and stiff-leaf capitals; the south chapel arcade is similar. The Perpendicular north arcade has piers with a hollow chamfer facing the nave and aisles and shafts toward the arch openings. A double-chamfered chancel arch and an early 13th-century semi-circular tower arch with a carved head on the capital complete the arcade sequence. The roofs were restored in the 19th and 20th centuries but retain some original timbers.

A Perpendicular double piscina and sedilia with a trefoil head stand in the south chapel. A niche to the left of the south chapel altar has a steep triangular crocketted head, with a frieze of cusping below an adjacent window.

The stained glass includes fragments of medieval glass in the north aisle north-east window, part depicting the arms of the Bassett family. A 17th-century Flemish glass panel in the west tower window depicts the Adoration of the Magi and is said at one time to have been given by Lord Nelson to Sir William Hamilton. Nineteenth-century stained glass lights the chancel and south chapel east windows, the latter by Kempe.

Monuments include various 17th-century inscribed floor tablets throughout the church. Tablets in the chancel from the 17th and 18th centuries include inscriptions to Dr. Greeves, Thomas Mainwaring, and George Jeffreys. On the south wall of the south chapel, Henry Pratt (died 1595) is commemorated by an inscribed plaque with decorated pilasters and obelisks above. Two 18th-century inscribed tablets to the right, for the Goode family, have reeded pilasters; a tablet to William Goode (died 1761) appears on the opposite wall. Additional 19th-century tablets are present throughout.

A 15th-century font is attached to a north aisle pillar. The unusual glazed lantern at the tower top is said to have served as a beacon light to guide travellers through Rockingham Forest.