Church Of St Mary And All Saints

Church of St Mary and All Saints

This is a Grade I listed Anglican parish church, predominantly of the 15th and 16th centuries with some minor 19th-century work. The building is constructed of Lias and red sandstone rubble with a slate roof, coped verges, and freestone dressings.

The church comprises a nave with a south porch, chancel with north vestry, north aisle, and west tower. The Perpendicular west tower is embattled in two stages with diagonal buttresses and gargoyles, topped by a stair turret. The bell-chamber windows are two-light openings with louvres, and the ringing chamber has a south-facing window with leaded lights. The west door and west window (three-light) are original features.

The nave has three bays with three-light pointed-head windows and stepped labels. The porch has a Perpendicular outer doorway with traceried 19th-century doors. The early 16th-century embattled north aisle features merlons with pierced quatrefoils and runs for four bays with buttresses, gargoyles, and three-light pointed-head windows.

The single-bay chancel originates from the early 14th century. It has a priest's door to the south with a cusped head (blocked inside), a two-light square-headed window with a stopped label, and a three-light east window.

The interior of the porch has benches on flag floors, the remains of a stoup with a blind traceried head, and an inner doorway with decorated spandrels. An early painted text survives above the doorway, along with 19th-century charity plaques.

The interior is plastered on flag floors beneath 15th-century wagon roofs with ribs and bosses. The wall plates are pierced and carved with 47 carved angels holding shields. The chancel roof was renewed in the 18th or 19th century.

The 15th-century tower and chancel arches are notable features, with the chancel arch being particularly elaborate. The 16th-century north aisle arcade comprises four bays with piers of four-wave section. The capitals feature leaf banding, and one pier displays four shields showing the instruments of the Passion. The arches have four-centred heads.

A 15th-century octagonal font survives, with a foiled niche to each face and an 18th-century tester. The church retains a virtually complete set of 16th-century benches with square heads and intricate carving. One bench bears the carver's name: "SIIMON WERMAN". A single example of 17th-century linenfold panelling is preserved in the aisle.

A brass to Richard Silverton, dated 1443, lies on the tower floor. It depicts a priest in mass vestments with chalice and host, though the head is missing. The inscription reads: "Richard Silverton, chaplain, who governed this church in a praiseworthy manner, to the honour of God, the Blessed Mary, and All Saints for 23 years. He sumptuously repaired and magnificently decorated it".

The church contains a medieval chest, an 18th-century box, an 18th- or 19th-century strong box, and Royal Arms of Queen Anne dated 1714. Eighteenth-century choir stalls and an altar rail are present. Floor slabs include one in the nave dated 1689 and one under the tower dated 1729, along with five further 16th- or 17th-century slabs in the chancel and two in the aisle.

Wall monuments include two late 18th-century examples by Reeves and Lath, an early 19th-century monument by R Long of Taunton, and further monuments in the chancel with Latin inscriptions.

The stained glass includes fragments of 15th- and 16th-century work in the south chancel window, depicting angels, canopies and medallions. Fragmentary 15th-century heraldry appears in the upper lights of the south nave window. Some 16th-century glass remains in the aisle windows. The east window was made by Morris and Company in 1913.

Two 19th-century decalogue plaques are positioned beneath the tower.

The church is notable as the location of Andrew Crosse (1784–1855), an early scientist who studied electrical energy. His laboratory table, on which he conducted experiments, stands in the aisle. An obelisk commemorating Crosse of nearby Fyne Court is located in the churchyard.