Church Of Saint Mary

The Church of Saint Mary is a Grade I listed building located on Wharram Main Street. It features a tower and nave with early 12th century insertions, a 14th century north aisle, and an additional late 18th or early 19th century west bay. The south nave wall was rebuilt in the 19th century, and the chancel dates from 1862. The church is constructed from hammer-dressed sandstone rubble and has a Welsh slate roof.

The west front showcases a four-stage tower with a blocked round-headed doorway that has two moulded orders on narrow shafts with pendant triangle capitals, likely of Norman origin. There are square-headed slit windows on the second and third stages, a string course, and double round-headed belfry windows. The rebuilt four-course parapet is slightly corbelled out. The south porch features a Norman round-headed door with an arch of five orders, the innermost being rolled and the outermost decorated with billet and zigzag patterns. The left side has a volute capital, while the right side has a fluted capital, both of which are worn, and both responds are absent.

Inside, the nave has paired lancets from the 19th century. The north aisle includes an additional west bay with one Y-traceried window, and a square-headed window with two trefoiled lights in the easternmost bay and at the east end. The chancel has a blind north wall, lancets on the south, and three stepped lancets at the east. The interior features a tall round-headed tower arch of two orders with detached shafts that carry capitals with pendant triangles. The pointed chancel arch appears to rest on earlier jambs with volute capitals. A Norman tub font is present, and there is a monument on the west wall of the north aisle dedicated to James Fox, who died in 1790. This monument includes a plaque on a shelf supported by consoles, flanked by fluted pilasters with paterae on the capitals, and features a fluted frieze and moulded cornice supporting an urn. For detailed discussions on the dating of the tower and nave's fabric and features, refer to works by Bilson, Taylor, and Pevsner.