Church Of St Mary Magdalene

The Church of St Mary Magdalene is an Anglican parish church with a history spanning from the Saxon period through to the 16th century, with significant restoration work undertaken in 1865. It is constructed of coursed rubble and squared stone with freestone dressings, covered with lead sheeting and slate roofs. The church comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, south chapel, south porch, and a large south vestry. The architectural style is predominantly Perpendicular, with elements of Norman, Early English, and Decorated work, though the 1865 restoration incorporated a somewhat mismatched Early English style.

The most prominent feature is the tower, approximately 38 feet high and erected between about 1440 and 1535. It has set-back buttresses, a diagonal hiding the corner angle, which later transforms into angle buttresses culminating in pinnacles. The tower is topped with battlements featuring blank arcading and larger pinnacles. A low west door has a four-centred arch, alongside a four-light west window divided into two two-light sections. A statue of Christ flanked by eight angels sits within a niche above the window. Above this are two tall, blank transomed windows with diagonal shafts. The bell stage features open windows with Somerset tracery.

The four-bay nave has a two- and three-light Perpendicular window on the north side and a two-light Decorated window. The north doorway retains Norman features, including a segmental arch with two orders of columns and scallop capitals carved with chevron decoration. A pilaster buttress marks the north-east corner. The four-bay south aisle has three-light Perpendicular windows and a Decorated window. A 19th-century porch obscures a Norman corbel table, likely reused. The vestry is also from the 19th century.

The chancel and south chapel date from the early to mid-13th century. North windows of the chancel display pointed trefoiled rere-arches. A two-bay arcade separating the chancel and chapel rests on a quatrefoil pier with a water-holding base; the capitals feature stiff-leaf carving and double-chamfered arches. The chancel has a 19th-century east window, and the chapel a Perpendicular window. A pilaster buttress is located at the east end of the chancel, and remnants of a corbel table remain.

The interior features a flagstone floor. The roofs were renewed in the 19th century, with the exception of the fan-vaulting within the tower. Norman arches flank the chancel arch, the southern one being fragmentary. The east portion of the aisle arcade has 13th-century piers, quatrefoil bases (believed to be Norman), and double-chamfered arches. The west two bays of the arcade are from the 14th century, with octagonal piers. A Perpendicular archway frames the tower. There are three piscinae, two medieval chests, 16th-century carved bench ends, an Early English font, restored 15th-century sedilia, a "frith-stool" to the chancel, along with Jacobean altar rails, an altar table, a reader, and a chest. Other 19th-century additions include altar rails and glazed tiles. While much of the stained glass is from the 19th century, fragments from the 15th and earlier centuries are incorporated into the chancel window. A monument bearing the effigies of a Knight and Lady, presumed to be Sir Henry Fitzroger, who died in 1388, is present, as is a wall monument to Frances Waldegrave, erected in 1879 by Boehm. The church houses bells dating from 1913.