Of Special Interest…..
Outside
- The round flint tower, 42 feet tall, with double round-headed belfry openings.
- The Nave and South Aisle windows – cusped Y-tracery, c. 1310-1330.
- The north & south Chancel windows – Decorated plate tracery, c. 1310-1330.
North Porch
- The holy-water stoup to left of the entrance; used until the Reformation for making the sign of the cross.
- The plaque commemorating those members of the parish who “returned safely” from the First World War.
Nave
- The Jacobean “two-decker” pulpit.
- The finely carved early rood screen separating the nave from the chancel.
- The rood stairs in the wall behind the pulpit; these formerly gave access to the roodloft over the screen.
- The 15th century font. Its steepled wooden canopy, recently restored by a local craftsman, now stands in the chancel.
Chancel
- The rare three-sided “barley-twist” altar rails
- The double piscina in the south wall; two bowls, one for rinsing the chalice and one for the priest’s hands.
- The stepped triple sedilia; three stone seats of graded height, for the clergy during the long parts of the mass.
South Aisle
- The Jacobean box pew for the de Grey family from Merton Hall.
- This part of the South Aisle was formerly a chapel and has its own piscina and a hagioscope or “squint” to allow the priest at the chapel altar to synchronise with the service at the main altar.
Stained Glass
- The north-east Chancel window; two of the saints date from the mid 1300s, though their faces are not original.
- The east window (1855); twelve scenes from the life of Christ, painted mostly by Emily Lady Walsingham.
- The unusual glass sundial in the South Aisle, with a latin motto and a representation of a spider in one corner waiting to catch a fly!
Memorials
Almost all the memorials are to members of the de Grey family, or their staff.
In the Nave…
- The fine brass on the wall by the pulpit, showing William de Grey with his 2 wives, 5 sons & 5 daughters.
- The Memorials to those who died in the two World Wars.
- The marble angel over the north door.
- The brass tablet to two brothers, Israel & John Buckle, gardener & gamekeeper on the Merton estate.
In the Box Pew…
- The unusual late floor brass to Thomas de Grey.
- Two distinctive wall tablets in a style influenced by Art Nouveau.
In the Chancel…
- The memorial with an extravagant inscription in praise of Hardwick Sewell.
- The carved oak reredos showing the Last Supper, given in memory of the Rev. George Crabbe, rector 1851-1884.
- The marble tablet with a Latin inscription to Robert de Grey, a Catholic who was buried in this church although he had always refused to worship here.
- The large memorial to Robert Arnold, “a faithful servant”.