Church Of Saint Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating from the 14th century, with significant rebuilding in the 15th century. The tower may be from 1636, a vestry was added in 1876, and the church was restored in 1913. It is constructed of blue lias rubble with slate roofs and coped verges. A tall 19th-century chimney is located to the left of the porch.

The church comprises a two-bay nave, a single-bay gabled projection on the southeast corner, a chancel, a vestry, a south porch, and a west tower. The short, two-stage crenellated tower has diagonal stepped buttresses rising to a string course. A lancet window is set into the south front, above which sits a squared, louvred bell opening. The eroded two-light, hollow-chamfered mullioned West window retains remnants of a square hood mould. An inset plaque above reads '16-- WS AS'. A stair turret is located on the northeast corner. On the south front is a small, two-light, cinquefoil-headed mullioned window, renewed in the 19th century, set just below the eaves, alongside a chamfered arched opening leading to the porch, which contains a chamfered four-centred arch doorway and a 19th-century door. To the right is a two-light mullioned window under a hood mould, abutting the gabled projection with an arched two-light window, with a string course below. The chancel features a two-light, cinquefoil ogee, leaded mullioned window to the left of the priests’ door and a three-light East window. A door provides access to the vestry. The north front has a 19th-century four-light, chamfered mullioned window, and two two-light, cinquefoil-headed mullioned windows under hood mouldings incorporating reset medieval carved faces as terminal bosses.

Internally, the chancel has a rendered, 15th-century ribbed and plastered barrel vault. The nave roof was partially renewed in the 19th century, retaining the original wall plate and bosses. A 14th-century chancel arch connects to a steeply chamfered arch of inset chamfered arch between the chancel and the vestry, the latter being added in memory of William Greswell on the site of an earlier building formerly linked to the chancel by an arcade. The tower arch is from the early 20th century. A gabled projection blocks the pulpit, with an ogee-headed blocked niche on the East side of the rear arch of the adjoining window. There are remains of a one-bay screen in the tower. The altar rails are of an early 18th-century baluster design. A 12th-century font with a cable-moulded base is present, alongside a restored Royal Coat of Arms from 1660 and a fine slate memorial stone to John Cunditt, who died in 1690, set in a marble aedicule on the South wall. A wooden wall tablet commemorates Cunditt sisters Dorothy and Elizabeth, who died in 1723 and 1739 respectively. The chancel was originally longer, housing a choir for chantry priests who lived to the north in buildings now known as Priory Cottage, Chantry Cottage and The Chantry. Before 1636, the bells were housed in a separate thatched structure, making it unlikely that the entire tower is as recent as that date.