St Mary

An attractive village church, dating from the 13th century, set within the pretty rural village of Willoughby Waterleys, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and which is rich in 17th and 18th century brick houses. St Mary’s church stands on a slight incline, partially hidden by the rectory, and is approached by a path that leads eastwards from Main Street through a pair of iron gates. It comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north aisle and vestry. It is also home to a small original graveyard and a newer separate cemetery to the south east.

The Norman style tower, of three stages with plinth and angle buttresses and embattled parapet, is the oldest dateable feature. It has a peal of five bells, of which the oldest, the tenor bell dated 1632, is a ‘maiden’ bell, having not been tuned or otherwise touched since coming out of the mould. The nave roof is perhaps the most notable antiquity remaining and is of 15th century, arch-braced, tie-beam construction. The tie beams have central bosses carved as faces and the braces spring from stone corbels forming a series of placid or grotesque heads. The middle window of the nave has ball flower decoration in hoodmould, and contains the wheatsheaf 'signature' in the stained glass associated with Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907).

The chancel and north aisle were added to the building during thorough restoration work in 1875, but incorporate stonework and features from earlier periods. The chancel is steeply roofed and has a 3 light east window, in 14th century style, containing stained glass which may be from a smaller, circa 1840, window. In this, on a geometrically patterned background, is superimposed an illustration of the Good Shepherd. The carved oak figures in the reredos above the altar table 'were given in thankoffering for ‘victory of peace' dedicated on Sept 28th, 1919. Willoughby Waterleys is a Thankful Village, having lost none of its men that went to serve in the First World War. The small, lean to vestry to the north houses the organ that was installed at the time of the 1875 restoration.