Description:

(1). PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY, stands in the northern half of the parish. The walls are of red sandstone rubble, without dressed quoins, but with other dressings of the same material; the roofs are covered with stone slates and modern slates. The building, consisting of Chancel, Nave and South Porch, is of uncertain date, the earliest detail being of the early part of the 15th century. The western part of the church was cut off by a wall probably in the 18th century. The church was restored in 1883.

Architectural Description—The Chancel and Nave (35 ½ ft. by 15 ½ ft.) are structurally undivided except that the wall mentioned above cuts off the western part of the nave. The early 15th-century E. window is of three cinquefoiled ogee lights in a square head with casement-moulded external reveals. A stone bench runs along the external face of the E. wall and is continued along the S. wall as far as the S. porch and along the E. wall of the porch itself. In the eastern part of the N. wall is a square window, only visible externally and blocked with stone slabs. In the S. wall are three modern windows; between the two eastern windows is a doorway with chamfered jambs and two-centred head, probably of the I4th or I5th century; between the two western windows and opening into the western division of the nave is a 15th-century doorway with moulded jambs and three-centred head. In the W. wall is a round-headed window fitted with a modern wooden frame of two lights. In the dividing wall of the nave is an opening with a four-centred arch, partly blocked and fitted with a square-headed doorway. The South Porch has an outer archway with square jambs and a wooden lintel, with a segmental cutting on the soffit.

The Roof of the church, except the western division, is of the 15th century, and of four bays with a narrow bay at each end; the trusses are of braced collar-beam type; there are blocks at the base of the curved braces which may indicate that the trusses formerly had tie-beams; the soffit of the roof is boarded and has moulded ribs, partly restored, planted on; the wall-plates are moulded and embattled; there are three rough tie-beams added at a later date. The roof of the W. part of the nave is of 18th-century or modern date, but has a I5th-century moulded and embattled wall-plate on the N. side. The bell-turret is a small   square timber structure weather-boarded on the outside and covered with a pyramidal roof. The roof of the porch is of braced collar-beam type with curved braces forming round arches, and all perhaps of the 17th century.

Fittings—Cross: In churchyard—S. of church, three steps forming base of former cross, with socket for shaft.    Paintings:   On purlins of E. bay of roof and truss W. of it, remains of painted design of running foliage, probably I5th or early 16th-century.    Piscina: In chancel—low recess with two round drains, probably not in situ.    Plate: includes pewter basin, probably early 18th-century.    Stoup: In S. porch, recess with quatrefoiled head and back, probably I5th-century and perhaps not in situ. Tables: In chancel—small table or high stool with thin turned legs and moulded top rails; early 18th-century. In W. part of nave - larger table of similar detail, probably early 18th-century. Miscellanea:   In W. part of nave—in  N.W. angle, fragment of 13th-century moulded corbel.

In the churchyard and running N. from the chancel is a rectangular sinking in the ground with a flat floor; it is said to have been a fives-court.

Condition—Fairly good.

Observations:

Description documented c 1930 by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments.

Ordnance Survey Map Reference and Index of Parish Properties