Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is a church dating to the 12th and 13th centuries. It was significantly expanded in the 19th century, with a new north aisle added in 1850 by E.F. Law, who also undertook restoration work in 1857 to the chancel and in 1864 to the nave. A vestry and organ chamber were added in 1879, followed by further restoration in the 20th century, and the construction of a church hall with a link to the church in 1972.

The church is comprised of a chancel, vestry/organ chamber, a central tower, a nave, a north aisle, and a south porch. It is built of coursed limestone rubble with slate roofs. The chancel has a three-light east window with 19th-century Decorated tracery and a three-light Perpendicular window to the north-east, both with hood moulds. A low-side window to the north-west has a rectangular chamfered stone surround, while a pair of round-headed one-light Norman windows are on the south side. The 19th-century vestry to the south has one-light windows. The three-stage central tower features lancet windows to the north and south, and similar windows to the east and west of the bell-chamber stage, all with hood moulds. The middle stage includes a blind arcade with lancet windows to the north and south, featuring circular shafts and carved capitals. The bell-chamber openings to the north and south have two lights with trefoil-headed lights, transoms and hood moulds, and a pyramidal lead roof with a gilded ball finial and weathercock. The north aisle has lancet windows, paired to the north. The nave has two-light windows to the south with Y tracery and a three-light west window with stepped pointed-arched lights and a hood mould. The south door has two orders of shafts with scalloped capitals, while the inner arch moulding has a beakhead design and the outer arch moulding features stylized leaves or horns alternating with fruit, all set within a hood mould. The 19th-century gabled south porch has a double-chamfered doorway and small lancets on either side, all with hood moulds. The 20th-century church hall extension is not of architectural interest.

Inside, the chancel has a piscina with a pointed trefoiled head. The tower arches, largely renewed, have four chamfers, with the outer two diminishing into the wall and the inner ones resting on polygonal responds with dog-toothed capitals. The church has 19th-century roofs throughout. A plain tub font is also present. A perspective watercolour over pencil, within an ormolu shield-shaped frame depicting the planned restoration, is displayed in the chancel. Slate wall monuments commemorate Susanna Henshaw (died 1706), Stephen Hoe Senior (died 1713), John Henshaw (died 1762), and Reverend Stephen Hoe Henshaw (died 1772), and feature a scull and crossbones.