Church Of Saint Mary

The Church of St Mary is a building of early origins, largely rebuilt in the 15th century and with significant 19th-century alterations, notably in 1864. The church is constructed of ham stone, with cut and squared rubble and ashlar dressings. The roof is plain clay tile with fish-scale bands between coped gables, an ornamental ridge to the chancel, and lead to the North aisle and single-bay North Chapel/Organ chamber.

The chancel was largely rebuilt in 1864, featuring a plinth, angled corner buttresses, and a 3-light East window with 14th-century tracery. The South wall includes a group of three cusped lancets in a 13th-century style, a single light in a 16th-century style, and a plain arched doorway between them. The North chapel, rebuilt in the 19th century in a 14th-century style, has a 3-light traceried North window and a 2-light traceried East window. The North aisle has offset buttresses marking each bay, with cusped lancets between, and a 2-light traceried window in the West wall, matching those on the South wall of the nave. The South porch is a 19th-century addition in a 15th-century style.

The tower, dating probably from 1123, is in three stages, with plinth and string courses, a plain parapet with small gargoyles and pinnacles to each corner, and a square-plan stair turret on the West end of the South face. The tower’s first stage features a moulded pointed arched West door and a 3-light 15th-century traceried window above. Clock faces are on the South and West faces of the second stage. The third stage has 2-light windows with hollowed recesses on each face; the North window has reticulated tracery, though its age is uncertain. The roof is a shallow pyramid with stone slates and ridges.

Internally, all work is 19th century, even the North Chapel arch designed in a convincing 12th-century style by the Reverend J. Hancock. Surviving features include a circular font dating possibly from 1123, with a cable mould around the waisted base and a lozenge-shaped ornamental band below the rim; a good 16th-century altar table with bulbous legs; a 17th-century wood pulpit; and a 17th-century 3-panel parish chest. The clock mechanism is no later than 1707. The tower contains six bills, three from the Purdue (Closworth) foundry, one dated 1591, three from the 17th century, one from the 18th century, and one from the 20th century.