Church Of Saint Mary Magdalene

The Church of St Mary Magdalene is a church dating primarily to the 13th century, with later additions and alterations. It is constructed of roughly squared and coursed ham stone, with ashlar dressings. The roofs are tiled on the South aisle and chancel, lead on the North aisle and tower, and stone-slated. The church has a four-part layout, comprising a two-bay chancel, a three-bay nave and aisles, a South porch, and a North-East tower. The chancel was rebuilt in 1885, incorporating older fragments. The East window is of 16th-century design, set within a shallow pointed arch, with smaller 19th-century pattern windows on either side. The South aisle has buttresses and a plain parapet, with 3-light windows mirroring the chancel East window on the South wall, and 2-light flat-headed windows on the East and West walls.

The North aisle, dating to 1489, is more ornate, featuring a deep plinth, a heavy cill string, gargoyles, a battlemented parapet, and 3-light traceried windows within pointed arch recesses. A simple pointed arch doorway, with moulded arch and jambs under a square label, is positioned East of the westernmost window. A tomb from 1636 is set into the wall beneath this window. The nave has a plain West door within a labelled pointed arch and a 3-light window above. The two-stage tower has string courses and simple parapets. The lowest stage has lancets to the North and East, an arched doorway to the South-East corner, and a smaller 15th-century window to the North, while pairs of cusped lancets adorn the upper stage of each face; a gargoyle is present on the East side.

The simple South porch has moulded two-centre arched openings. Inside, the chancel has a 19th-century arched rib vault and a timber roof with bosses. A pointed arch to the tower incorporates an early stone coffin lid with an incised cross. A 16th-century statue bracket is found under the North window, and a 14th-century piscina is in the South-East corner. The nave has a 19th-century open timber roof and a mid-13th-century South arcade of chamfered arches, with mostly dressed-off capitals. The North arcade, dating to 1489, has shallow pointed parelled arches. A circular rere-arch is present to the West window. Good bench ends from 1523 and a timber pulpit dated 1619 are also within the nave. The North aisle has a 15th-century coffered rib roof and an early 12th-century font, fluted with cable decoration. A fragment of wall painting is located in the South-East corner of the South aisle. Memorials include a large marble plaque commemorating John Newman (died 1799) and an incised Keinton slab to Walter Ridout (died 1680). A 16th-century chest is near the pulpit, and the tower contains two bells, believed to date to around 1400.