This large parish church is Grade I listed and in size more akin to inner city churches. It consists of a chancel, a south porch and south door, c.1300, and a nave, north aisle, and west tower, C15th, and is built of knapped and rubble flint with stone dressings and has lead roofs. There is a Brass in the church of a civilian holding a church as its donor. This is possibly Sir William Calthorpe who claimed in his will (1495) to have rebuilt the church, giving a possible date for the clerestorey and roofs. The church was restored in 1897 by Frederick Preedy, architect, at the bequest of Bishop Lloyd, Rector 1894-1903. Hicks and Charlewood of Newcastle on Tyne made the elaborate carved and painted altar and reredos, and the Decorated style oak carved rood screen.
The west tower is perhaps of 1503 with ashlar plinth and knapped flint to the west face only. Of four stages with off-set diagonal buttresses with ashlar quoins, to the four angles. A four panel C15th west door has tracery in the spandrel panels. The fine four-light west window has a tracery head and drip mould. The small two-light square head Perpendicular window on the west face used to be the light for the ringing chamber, thankfully this chamber has been moved down to a balcony nearer ground level but this results in a long draught for the bell ropes. The bell chamber has four three-light Perpendicular tracery windows, one on each face. The battlemented parapet has flushwork tracery and shields whilst the inscription on the east side is attributed to Ralph Blondeville,1503. There is a sundial on the south face and a modern clock on the west face.
The four bay nave has four lower and four clerestory three-light Perpendicular tracery windows in the unusual two storey south elevation explained by the addition of the later C15th knapped flint clerestory. The south wall is supported by four south buttresses with off-sets and ashlar facings, the same details as those of tower, also possibly from 1503. The almost too small C14th south porch has an outer arch, north and south quatrefoils, and a richer entrance arch without bases or capitals.
Nave north side has a Perpendicular two-light west window, two two-light straight headed north windows and a three-light west window, which is probably C17th, and a Perpendicular north door.
The Decorated four-bay chancel is associated with a date of 1301 recorded in a no longer extant east window inscription to William Careltone : "construxit hunc cancellum Anno Domini MCCCI". 'He built the window, AD 1301' The south side has two central two light "Y" tracery windows with sub-cusped trefoiled lights and trefoil spandrel, two north and south Perpendicular three-light tracery windows, a south priest's door and two off-set buttresses. The roof has been heightened above the line of of the c.1300 windows. The east gable has a five-light window with four trefoils and a central spandrel quatrefoil, the tracery perhaps from the 1897 restoration. Paired off-set angle buttresses support the east wall. The chancel north side has one c.1300 central two-light window with trefoil headed lights and a trefoil spandrel. One large south three-light window is also c.1300 with two canted and one upright trefoil in the spandrel. A C19th north vestry addition has a reused C14th west window.
The Perpendicular tower arch and four-bay north arcade have octagonal piers and double hollow chamfered arches. The fine five-bay Perpendicular single hammerbeam double frame nave roof has wingless angels carrying instruments of the passion. It is curious that the C19th restoration did not get as far as repainting and rewinging them. The semi-octagonal moulded wall posts on corbels with bases and capitals, arched wall plates, and moulded brackets support the hammerbeams. The hammerbeams support pierced tracery, spandrel brackets above with moulded arched principals.
The [winged] angels at the junctions with moulded purlins and bosses at the junction with the ridge. At the wall plate a moulded coving section has lower brattishing, two out-stretched winged angels to each half bay, upper painted chevron moulding, traceried panel and crowning brattishing. Some colour survives.
The circular Norman style stone font bowl, has an elaborate painted and carved gothic font cover that opens to reveal six beautiful painted panels of Christ and the children, texts and foliage patterns.
Other notable furnishings are the nave south east sepulchre and piscina, the nave and aisle outer walls with C18th panelling with cornice, the north aisle Perpendicular arch braced roof with central purlin and chamfered rafters. The Royal Arms of Charles I are displayed over the north aisle north door and there is a fine traceried 7seven-light north aisle screen which is partly C15th. The north aisle altar is from 1978 and incorporates four C14th painted panels which have been repainted. They show Fortitude, Temperance, Mercy and Justice. The Mercy panel is clearly St Veronica, and if the other repaintings are anything like what was there before, they probably featured St Barbara, St Mary of Magdala and St Michael. The chancel arch is Decorated or Perpendicular. There are C15th rood stairs, the door is at the north-east in the north aisle, and the rood loft door is against the chancel arch.. An indistinct medieval Doom painting can be seen above the chancel arch. The four bay chancel has an arched braced hammerbeam roof similar to the nave, largely restored and repainted 1877. A fine but over-restored south side sedilia and piscina is mid-C14th, with corbels and painted diapering.
The north side heavily restored c.1300 Easter Sepulchre has cusped and sub-cusped arch, gable with open work tracery, crockets and finial, and outer buttresses with finials.
Details from British Listed Buildings with own on-site amendments.
The co-ordinates are for the south porch.