Church Of St Edmund

The Church of St Edmund is a parish church with origins in the 12th century, a tower and alterations from the 15th century, a mid-18th century chancel, and a restoration of 1868. It is constructed of ashlar and coursed limestone rubble with some scattered ironstone, and has low-pitched roofs, likely of lead. The church consists of a nave, aisles, a south porch, a west tower, a chancel, and a north tomb-house.

The four-stage west tower features a plinth with clasping buttresses, a quatrefoil frieze with gargoyles, and a castellated parapet with corner pinnacles. The west side of the tower has 19th-century double doors in a roll-moulded arched entrance with a square label. Above the entrance is a quatrefoil frieze and a three-light Perpendicular window with a transom. Small stair lights are also present. The bell stage has two-light Perpendicular windows with transoms. The nave, aisles, and chancel have plain parapets. There are two 19th-century three-light Perpendicular style square-headed aisle windows, and two similar two-light clerestory windows. A gabled south porch encloses an arched entrance with a 19th-century door. A small 19th-century arched priest’s doorway is located on the south aisle. The chancel has a plinth, two plain raised bands, a cornice, and a tall, plain parapet. The east end of the chancel has a large round-headed leaded window with plain impost blocks, a keystone, and a pediment. Railings are situated in front of the east window.

Inside, the two-bay nave arcade features plain semicircular arches on cylindrical columns with plain capitals and square abaci. The tower arch has two chamfered orders, partly concealed by an organ gallery. The roofs are of Perpendicular style, particularly that of the south aisle. The chancel arch is from the 19th century. A 15th-century three-light window was rediscovered in the 19th century and served as a pattern for the restoration of the aisle windows; traces of painting remain on the left-hand jamb. The west window of the south aisle has 19th-century stained glass. A panelled door in the east end of the north aisle leads to the tomb-house. The font is likely medieval, set on a 19th-century base. The chancel features a cornice, cove, and moulded rectangular ceiling panel. Niches on each side contain four colossal monuments, including those to John, Duke of Montagu (d.1752), by L.F. Reubiliac; Mary, Duchess of Montagu (d.1775), by Robert Adam and P.M. van Gelder (on the north side); Mary, Duchess of Montagu (d.1753), by L.F. Reubiliac; and Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch (d.1827), by Thomas Campbell (on the south side). A paved stone and marble floor extends to a curved altar dais of black marble and a mid-18th century communion rail supported by four scrolled iron uprights. The church also contains stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops.