St Mary

C19 north porch, knapped flint, angle buttresses, deep roll moulded arch having shafts and angel stops, three square lights in stone to each return

C19 north doorway with continuous moulding, elaborate angel stops to hood.

Arch braced roof to nave dated 1910, braces rising alternately from wall posts on C15 stone angel corbels and from wooden angel corbels, fretwork frieze of angels and dragons, principal rafters moulded, painted heraldic bosses.

jambless chancel arch rising from C19 angel corbels, single multi-hollow chamfered arches to north and south aisles, C13 double piscina across angle of window arris with arcade of slender Purbeck marble colonettes with double quatrefoil above light

brass tablet to Joseph Clarke Rector, 1700, with stone surround having cherubs below, Purbeck marble slab with indents for kneeling husband and wife c.1540, both in north wall

C15/C16 heraldic glass in windows from Baconsthorpe Castle (qv 7/1) inserted 1958 during restoration after bomb damage of 1942

large alabaster monument on east wall dated 1593 to Sir Wm. and Anne Heydon, kneeling figures in ¾ relief with some pigment remaining, both under Renaissance arches with strapwork soffits and both facing sinister, achievement above

several monumental brasses without matrices affixed to east wall including Anne Heydon 1561 in heraldic mantle, various inscriptions

arms of Dodge 1642 charged with breast distilling milk.

Tall jambless tower arch, screen to tower of C15 fretwork quatrefoils and roses brought together 1924

octagonal font, 1866, on Maltese cross base having floral and geometric designs to faces.

The earliest parts of St Mary's church > [[318519]] date from the 13th century; after the collapse of the tower in 1739 some repairs were carried out but by 1768 the church was described as being in a ruinous and deplorable state but the church was extensively restored during the 19th century. 15th century pew backs were incorporated into the tower screen; the font dates from the 19th century. Some of the south aisle windows have stained glass insets > [[730912]] bearing the arms of the Haydon family; these shields were removed from > [[520026]], largely destroyed in 1650, after a long siege by roundhead troops. The window at the east end of the south aisle is completely blocked by the Haydon memorial above the tomb of Sir William Haydon (d. 1523) and his wife, Ann Woodhouse > [[730908]]. A small 14th century wallpainting depicting a cockerel > [[730921]], Chanticleer - who features in Shakespeare's and Chaucer's writings, is hidden high up on one of the arches of the south arcade. The church is open every day.

© Evelyn Simak

C19 screen across north aisle incorporating fragments of C15 screen.