Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary in Kirkby Fleetham dates primarily to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 13th, 15th, and 19th centuries. Constructed of rubble stone with ashlar dressings, it has lead and Welsh slate roofs. The church comprises a west tower, a three-bay nave with a south porch, a south chapel, a north aisle, and a two-bay chancel with a north vestry.

The west tower is of 15th-century origin, with three stages, offset diagonal buttresses, and a stair tower to the south featuring small, chamfered slit openings. The belfry stage has Y-traceried pointed openings, a moulded band, and an ashlar embattled parapet. A Perpendicular-style window of three lights with a hoodmould is located on the west face.

The nave dates to the 13th century. The south gabled porch, rebuilt in the 19th century, has segmental arch and an upper blind arched opening with a hoodmould. A Norman doorway with zigzag arch decoration lies within. The south chapel, immediately east of the porch, also dates to the 13th century and features two bays with two offset angle buttresses and two Y-traceried cusped pointed-arched windows with hoodmoulds, a similar east window of three lights, a stone band, and an ashlar parapet. The nave window to the west of the porch is similarly styled with two lights, while the clerestory has flat-headed two-light Perpendicular windows with 4-centred arched lights and embattled parapets.

The north aisle, dating to the 15th century and featuring four bays, is distinguished by offset diagonal buttresses and a series of two-light pointed-arched windows, all of 1871 design, reticulated in style. A small, chamfered segmental arched doorway is positioned in the north wall. The chancel, rebuilt in 1871, features offset angle buttresses and Y-traceried cusped two-light windows with pointed arches and hoodmoulds, a moulded band, and a plain parapet. The east window is pointed with five lights containing a mix of curvilinear and intersecting tracery, surmounted by a hoodmould. The north vestry, also dating to 1871, has a pointed arched doorway, three small, one-light cusped lancets, a moulded band, and a plain parapet.

Inside, the three-bay north arcade is of 1871 origin and features octagonal piers with double-chamfered pointed arches. The pointed chancel arch, also of 1871, has an inner moulding on a round shaft. The tower's first stage includes a 15th-century quadripartite vault with chamfered diagonal and transverse ribs and a central circle for bell ropes; the ribs are supported on moulded corbels. A double-chamfered pointed tower arch is also present. A Norman font, reworked over time, stands within the church. Notable monuments include a well-preserved cross-legged effigy of Sir Nicholas Stapleton (died 1290), now housed in a 19th-century pointed-arched niche, and a memorial by Flaxman to William Lawrence (died 1785), featuring a bust of Lawrence and a mourning figure of his wife, Anne Sophie, against a grey marble slab with a pointed-arched top.