Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church with origins in the 13th century, though it was extensively restored in 1792-4 and 1847. Constructed primarily from local lias stone with Ham stone ashlar dressings, the church has a stone slate roof and a cruciform plan, encompassing a south porch, a northeast vestry, and a tower over the crossing.

The chancel features a plinth, angled corner buttresses with moulded offsets, an eaves course, and an east window which is a 19th-century recreation of 14th-century tracery, a three-light design with an arched label and foliated stops. Two similar windows are positioned on the south side, with a trefoil arched doorway between them. A single, similar window exists in the north wall, but the northeast corner houses a 19th-century vestry with an apsidal plan echoing 13th-century styles and a hipped roof. The north transept displays plinth, double corner buttresses, and an eaves course, with a fine five-light curvilinear traceried window of around 1300-1340, complete with an unstopped arched label. The south transept mirrors the north with angled corner buttresses and 19th-century copies of 15th-century windows—two-light designs to the east and west, and a three-light design to the south, the last featuring a headstop label.

The nave has three 14th-century style traceried windows on the north wall and two early 15th-century style windows on the south. Between these southern windows is a south porch with an arch decorated in a 13th-century style, featuring ball flower decoration and headstops to the label. The inner arch is in a 15th-century style, although the walls and encaustic tile floor are 19th century. A west window, featuring elaborate 15th-century style tracery with a transome and headstop label, has replaced a former square-headed doorway.

The tower is clear of the roof ridges, exhibiting string courses, corner gargoyles, a battlemented parapet, a stair turret capped with a spirelet, and two-light traceried windows in hollow recesses—each face having a headstop label and decorative pierced stone baffles.

The interior is largely 19th-century. The chancel displays a windbraced arched trussed roof and a richly decorated stone reredos, alongside an ogee arched piscina likely dating from the 14th century. The chancel and crossing arches may also be 14th century. An organ is located in the south transept, while the north transept holds a tulip bowl font on a turned base, presumed to be from the 13th century. The nave contains a richly decorated stone pulpit and an octagonal font at the west end, complete with a wooden cover. Elaborately decorated bench ends, some dating from the early 16th century, are positioned to the west of the nave. Early 19th-century glass is found in the west window, alongside two chandeliers, thought to be from the 18th century.