HISTORY
Introduction
The Church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN
consists of chancel (33¼ ft. by 16¼ ft.), nave
(48¼ ft. by 17¼ ft.), north aisle (6¼ ft. wide),
west tower (10½ ft. by 10½ ft.) and south
porch. The walls are of pebble rubble with
stone dressings and the roofs of tile and lead,
but the modern north wall of the aisle is of
brick. Of the church mentioned in the
Domesday Survey (1086) nothing remains, the
earliest part of the present building being the
chancel built in the mid 13th century. About a
hundred years later the nave was rebuilt and
possibly lengthened, and the north aisle
added. The west tower and spire was built c.
1380, and the porch in 1664. The chancel was
restored in 1851, and the whole church in
1870–1, the north wall of the aisle being
modern.
The mid 13th-century chancel has a three-light
east window having 14th-century jambs and
arch, but 15th-century tracery much restored.
In the north wall is an early 14th-century two-
light window and a doorway of similar date.
The south wall has a 15th-century two-light, a
late 13th-century lancet, a late 14th-century
two-light, and an original double piscina with
moulded arches, jambs, shafts and centre
shaft with moulded capitals and bases, and
wooden shelves. The late 13th-century
chancel arch has been badly reset and its
lower order has been rebated for a boarded
tympanum. The screen now under it was put
up in 1902.
The nave has a north arcade of four bays of
14th-century date and a clearstory of four
16th-century quatrefoil windows. In the south
wall are two 15th-century three-light windows
and a late 14th-century doorway; at the
eastern end is a tall arched recess, perhaps to
give more room for an altar; in the wall at the
back, a wooden lintel seems to indicate an
opening now built up. The east and west walls
of the north aisle are of the late 14th century,
the former with a blocked square-headed
window, and against the latter a 13th-century
stone seat with shaped ends has been refixed.
The north wall is of modern brickwork and has
three two-light windows.
The late 14th-century west tower has an arch
of two orders, the lower resting on engaged
shafts with moulded capitals and bases; on the
north respond, near the floor, is the scratched
figure of a chalice surmounted by a cross. A
plain west doorway has a two-light window
above it, and each wall of the belfry has a two-
light window; at the top of the belfry windows
the tower becomes octagonal and is
surmounted by a stone spire rising from
behind an embattled parapet. The shafts of
four pinnacles remain; the tops are said to
have been blown off by the storm of 1741. The
stair-turret is at the southeast angle, projecting
into the nave, and at the north-east angle a
splayed projection arranged to balance the
stair-turret envelops the respond of the north
arcade.
The south porch, largely rebuilt, has a plain
outer archway dated 1664.
The font is modern, octagonal with quatrefoil
panels.
There are five bells, inscribed: (i) Uirg bego
egahc [possibly for Virgo Bega hec]; (ii) Man
taketh paine bvt God giveth gnyne [for gain]
1626; (iii) Hee that will be meri let him be meri
in the Lord, 1626; (iv) Non clamor sed amor
cantat in avre Dei, 1626; (v) Cvm cano bvsta
mori cvm pulpita vivere disc [for disce] 1626.
The first by Newcomb, the others by Haulsey.
In 1552 there were 3 bells. Rehung in 1878.
There are memorial windows in the chancel to
Gilbert Ansley, d. 1860; Gilbert John Ansley, d.
1875; and a brass plate to Mary Anne Maclean
(Martelli), widow of Gilbert Ansley, d. 1896. On
the south wall of the nave, outside, is a tablet
to John Prescot, d. 1790.
The registers are: (i) baptisms, marriages and
burials, 21 April 1633 to 19 March 1725; (ii)
ditto, 4 April 1725 to 1 March 1750–1 (this
book contains the register of Wyton also); (iii)
baptisms and burials, 15 January 1790 to 27
December 1812. There are loose sheets
containing entries for 1783– 1786.
The church plate consists of: a silver cup, late
16th century, but unmarked; a silver standing
paten, hall-marked for 1853–4.