Church of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A geometrical-style cruciform church with a north porch, south-west vestry and west tower, built in 1832 by George Wade Green. The nave and tower are constructed of rubble stone, while the remainder of the building is of snecked rock-faced stone with silver-grey quoins and lighter freestone dressings. The building is roofed in slate with crested ridge tiles.

The entrance is on the north side, accessed through a north-west porch built in two phases. The later phase at the west end features a two-centred doorway with continuous chamfer and double boarded doors. Its west wall has a projecting gabled bay with a three-light window, and a two-light square-headed window set back to its right. The slightly earlier porch, positioned further east, contains a two-light window in what was formerly the doorway.

The nave has two two-light windows on the north side. The north transept contains a three-light window and a single north-east buttress. On its east side is an organ recess beneath an outshut roof, with a two-light window featuring shouldered lights and a stack with a pair of round shafts.

The chancel has a three-light east window and a two-light south window. The south transept and south wall of the nave contain windows similar to those on the north side. The transept features a pointed east doorway with a ribbed door. The south-west vestry, constructed as a lean-to against the nave, has a three-light south window set in a gable raised above the eaves, and a three-light west window in the gable end projecting beyond the west end of the nave. The nave has single-light west windows flanking the tower.

The tower comprises three stages. The lower stage has a round-headed west doorway with annulet banding and three orders of chamfer, modelled on the west doorway of Strata Florida Abbey. Above it is a tablet recording the building of the church in 1832 by George Wade Green. The middle stage contains small cusped windows in the north and south walls. The two-light belfry windows are square-headed with louvres. The parapet projects on a corbel table, with stepped battlements featuring large corner pinnacles and crosses at the centre of each face.

The interior has a five-bay boarded wagon roof of unusually wide span, with ribs supported on corbelled wall posts. Plain segmental-pointed arches open to the transepts. Beyond the segmental-pointed chancel arch, the chancel has a boarded wagon roof. The chancel contains a trefoil-headed piscina. Wainscoting in the nave and transepts features cusped arcading, probably surviving from the original 1832 fitting-out.

The font, brought from another church, has a square Norman bowl with pointed lobes around the base, standing on a later octagonal stem and square base. Simple pews date to around 1890, as does the polygonal wooden pulpit.

The building contains several windows with stained glass. The east window is a memorial to George Wade Green (died 1868) depicting the Resurrection, probably by Mayer & Co of London. The chancel south window, depicting the words "suffer little children", is in a similar style and is signed by Mayer & Co. The south transept contains an early twentieth-century window depicting the Good Shepherd flanked by Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint David. The nave south window is a First World War memorial window showing Saint George and a legionnaire at the crucifixion. Beside the font in the south-west corner is a brass plaque commemorating Eric Green, killed in India in 1900, made by Jones & Willis.