Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene

This is a parish church of significant medieval date, comprising work from the 12th, mid-13th, and 14th centuries, with the chancel said to have been rebuilt in 1880. The building is constructed of squared and regular coursed limestone and ironstone with limestone ashlar details, and is roofed in slate, corrugated sheet, and lead.

The church follows an aisled plan with a nave and chancel, a west tower, and a west porch. The chancel projects an aisled south elevation of one window range, featuring 3-light square-head windows with arch-head lights. A south chapel, now serving as a vestry, projects over two bays of the chancel, while a north chapel, also now a vestry, projects over two bays on the opposite side. The 4-light east window to the chancel contains renewed tracery with trefoils and a quatrefoil circle, whilst the north elevation of the chancel is blank.

The south aisle and south chapel present a 4-window range comprising two 2-light windows with cusped tracery to the left and 2- and 3-light square-head windows to the right, with some tracery renewed. A lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets covers this section, and a 3-light east window contains tracery with mouchettes. A 19th-century lean-to porch is attached to the west of the south aisle, featuring small square-head windows in its south wall and a chamfered and moulded door opening in its west wall.

The north chapel displays a 2-window range of 2-light windows with quatrefoil tracery—that to the left having been renewed—beneath a lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets and a 4-light square-head east window. The south aisle is set back from the south chapel and comprises a 2-window range of 2-light windows with renewed reticulated tracery. A double chamfered north door opening sits between the windows, and the section is topped by a lean-to roof and plain ashlar parapets featuring three gargoyles. A roll-moulded plinth runs around the base of the south side.

The nave and chancel feature a clerestory of seven windows in a 2-light square-head pattern, some renewed in the 19th century. Shallow gabled nave and chancel roofs with ashlar parapets and finials complete the main body.

The 14th-century west tower consists of four stages with 4-stage limestone ashlar angle buttresses at the corners, terminating as octagonal corner pinnacles. Single lancets pierce the west face of the lower stage and the south face of the third stage. The upper stage displays paired 2-light shafted bell-chamber openings with quatrefoil circles on each face. A corbel table with carved heads supports a broach spire above, which is decorated with two tiers of lucarnes.

The interior contains a 13th-century three-bay north arcade of double chamfered arches with octagonal piers. The capitals are decorated with high relief figures lying horizontally—two ladies, two knights, and a bishop—making them perhaps unique. The responds feature stiff leaf foliage and similar figures. The two western arches are separated by a section of wall. The south arcade dates to approximately 1300 and features double chamfered arches with quatrefoil piers. Both the chancel arch and the tower arch are double and triple chamfered respectively, with 12th-century windows opening above the tower arch. A 19th-century two-bay north arcade to the chancel comprises double chamfered arches with octagonal piers. The 14th-century south chapel (now vestry) contains a double chamfered single arch with octagonal responds. Shallow half arches connect the aisles to the chapels. The roof structures date to the 19th century, though the north aisle may retain some earlier timbers.

A 14th-century tomb recess with three shafts is set into the north wall of the chancel. An 18th-century panelled pulpit stands reset on a 19th-century base. Two niches are cut into the wall of the north arcade. The font is plain and octagonal. 19th-century stained glass has been installed in the east window and a chancel window to the right. Monuments include an 18th-century oval tablet in the north chapel dedicated to the Medlycott family.