St Mary the Virgin, Hastingleigh

St Mary is a Grade I parish church in a valley about a mile from Hastingleigh village, Kent, in the Diocese of Canterbury and The Parish Upon the Hills.

Overview

Historic England records an eleventh-century parish church with a thirteenth-century chancel and tower and a fourteenth-century south aisle and porch. The fabric is flint, the upper stages of the southwest tower rebuilt in red brick, under a plain tiled roof. A roll-moulded west door sits in a fourteenth-century timber porch on a flint base, with a crown-post roof. Massive offset buttresses support the north nave. A downpipe hopper is dated 1879.

Inside, a two-bay south arcade on octagonal piers has double-chamfered arches. The listing notes jambs of a tall, possibly Anglo-Saxon north door with a blocked twelfth-century round-headed doorway set within, a thirteenth-century tower arch, and crown-post roofs to nave, aisle and chancel. The long chancel has closely packed lancets. A fifteenth-century rood screen survives, with wall paintings including thirteenth-century grisaille. The church stands in the Kent Downs.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1232978
• Wye Benefice