Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary consists of a tower dating from around 1300, a 14th and 15th century body, and an early 16th century south chancel chapel. It was restored in 1874, and the chancel was rebuilt in 1897 by the firm of Law and Harris. The church is constructed of coursed squared ironstone and limestone, with lead roofs except for the plain-tile roofs of the chancel and tower. It comprises a chancel, vestry, organ chamber, south chancel chapel, nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a west tower.

The two-bay chancel features a three-light geometrical east window and two-light Decorated style windows to the north and south. A blocked, chamfered priest’s door is located to the south, and the north side includes a vestry with a doorway to the east and a three-light Decorated style window. The south chancel chapel has a three-light arched mullion east window with cut spandrels and a similar four-light window to the south. The nave has a four-bay clerestory with straight-headed windows featuring cinquefoil-headed lights, topped by a battlemented parapet. The north aisle has two-light straight-headed windows with ogee-headed lights, and a richly moulded north door. The south aisle has similar two-light straight-headed windows with pointed trefoil-headed lights, and a one-light west window with a cinquefoil-headed light. The south porch has a roll-moulded south door with a double-chamfered doorway, a two-light straight-headed window to the east with pointed trefoil-headed lights, and a two-light straight-headed window to the west. The three-stage west tower has a three-light Perpendicular west window, a one-light chamfered window to the west, and a stair turret to the south-east with a ridged stone roof. It also includes two-light bell openings with trefoils to the heads and cusped lights, a corbel table, a battlemented parapet, and a pyramidal roof.

External buttresses are diagonally offset to the west angles of the tower and south aisle and chancel chapel, while angle offset buttresses are present to the chancel, and buttresses, mostly offset, are positioned between the bays of the north and south aisles. The chancel and aisles have plain stone-coped parapets. All windows and doors have hood moulds.

Inside, the chancel features an alabaster reredos and a double-chamfered arch to the south chancel chapel. A fine Decorated chancel arch is present with foliage capitals. The nave has three-bay arcades with continuous double sunk-quadrant mouldings. The tower arch has triple responds, one with a fillet, and a triple hollow-chamfered arch. A blocked door is situated above the tower arch with a Caernarvon-arched head. The nave’s roof is of a Perpendicular style, with moulded ties, ridge, and purlins supported on angels playing music. 19th-century stained glass is found in the east and west windows. Other features include a painted wood table of Kindred and Affinity, a brass memorial to Mathew Swetenham, who died in 1416 and served as Bowbearer to Henry IV, and a painted alabaster monument to William Wattes, who died in 1614, depicting four headless kneeling figures across two tiers.