Church Of St Mary

Church of Saint Mary is a church dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, with a 12th-century south door and restoration work carried out in 1750 for Ann and Elizabeth Byerley and, more extensively, in 1859 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble and ashlar, with a Westmorland slate roof. It comprises a west tower, a nave and chancel under a single roof, and north and south aisles.

The three-stage west tower features a moulded plinth, a narrow window, and shields on the second stage. It has Perpendicular belfry openings. Buttresses are set back on the lowest stage, angled on the middle stage, and diagonal on the top stage, all topped by a crenellated parapet with fine gargoyles. The north aisle, consisting of three bays, has 19th-century two-light windows and a porch with two quatrefoil openings on each side. The two-bay south aisle features a potentially repositioned Norman doorway with an inner arch of zig-zag decoration and an outer arch with beak-head decoration carried on attached single columns with cushion capitals. Adjacent to this is a two-light decorated window. The south aisle’s east end has a three-light Perpendicular window. The chancel has two two-light Decorated windows; the westerly window has a transom and mullion. Lancet windows at the east end of the north and south walls of the chancel are likely from the 19th century. The east window of the chancel has five stepped lancet lights under a single arch, with a circle above the outer lights. Angle buttresses flank the east end of the chancel, which is topped by an ashlar gable coping.

Inside, a narrow arch leads to the west tower, which has a groined roof and a circular opening for the bell ropes. The north arcade is characterized by slim octagonal pillars, with the westerly one being monolithic. The south arcade showcases stylised foliage on its capitals. A low chancel screen and sedilia are 19th-century additions. A memorial to Sir Robert Byerley, erected in 1766, is located on the south wall of the chancel. Two memorials to Richard de Goldsburgh, who died in 1308, and his son, Richard, who died in 1333, are set into the chancel floor at each end of the altar rail. These are effigies of knights in full armour; the earlier is under a cusped and crocketed canopy, and the later is on a panelled altar tomb with traces of painted figures. A memorial slab on the north wall of the north aisle, at the east end, commemorates Daniel Lascelles, who died in 1784.