The parish church
of St. Mary is built of flint rubble with stone dressings; the
chancel is roofed with tiles and the nave with lead. The church
consists of a chancel, nave, north aisle, north vestry, west tower
and south porch.
The nave is the
oldest part of the present structure and probably dates from the
12th century. In the 13th century the chancel was either enlarged
or wholly rebuilt. The west tower was added about 1480, and the
south porch probably in the 18th century. The north aisle and north
vestry date from 1887, when the church was restored throughout.
The original
13th-century roll-moulded east windows of the chancel were replaced
by a window of three cinquefoiled
lights in about 1500; but the interior jambs with part of the arch
are still visible on either side of the existing window. The
doorway in the north wall is of the 12th century, moved to its
present position when the north aisle was built. In the south wall
the easternmost window is a plain single light of the 13th century,
and the westernmost is of about 1500 of three
cinquefoiled lights in a low two
centred head.
The chancel arch is
of the late 15th century. A 15th-century oak rood screen stands in
the archway.
The nave has a
window of about 1330 in the south wall with two
cinquefoiled lights and a quatrefoil in
a two-centred head, and a 15th-century
twolight window, with similar tracery
in a four-centred head. Between them is the south doorway leading
to the south porch. The roof of the nave is low pitched, of
15th-century date, but most of the carving is modern. At the
north-east, beside the chancel arch, is a tall shallow niche of the
15th century, with a two-centred arch in a moulded rectangular
frame.
The west tower, of
two stages with an embattled parapet, has a late 15th-century arch
towards the nave. The west doorway is of the same date. The west
window has modern stonework, and the
twolight windows of the bell chamber
are repaired with cement.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would
just ask that you could let
Sadexploration know first so he can
keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid
duplication.