St Mary

There would have been a stone built church here in Saxon times, probably before 787 AD. In that year the Danes came in from the sea, raiding these parts, and burning the Saxon churches.

We can see as we go round the church that much of it dates from Norman times, about 1150, and most of the rest was built in the 1400s and 1500s.

The octagonal font was made in the late 12th century. For over 800 years the children of Maiden Newton have been baptised into the Church of Christ at this font.

The roof of the nave is of about 1450, but has been repaired with newer timbers at later dates. High up on this wall are the stone corbels on which the roof brackets rest. The first shows a man sounding a horn, the second is of a lady wearing a head dress as worn about 1350. Next comes a snarling dog, then a cat and finally a dog with a bone.

The Norman doorway has what is believed to be the original wooden door hanging on the original Norman hinges. There seems never to have been a lock or latch on this door, but the holes in the stonework on either side for barring the door are still there.

The chancel was built about 1450. The roof is Victorian as are the stone corbels which are carved into heads. The east window is Victorian and so is all the chancel glass. There is a hole in the glass of the east window which was made by a bullet from an enemy aircraft during the Second World War.

This transept and the south aisle were built about 1450. The altar table is of about 1600. That there was originally an altar here is indicated by the squint and piscina in the south wall. Into the walls are built two stone ledges and some medieval stone brackets. One shows a man in contemplative mood holding back his moustache. One shows a flower, and another shows a man in a helmet with earflaps.

Both in the transept and the south aisle there are, in the roof, wooden angels holding shield on which are painted Our Lord’s suffering. These are not old.