The cleaning of the church walls continues and this week the team have been working on the chancel arch and the east wall of the nave. The arch itself is relatively new having been installed in 1847 by the then vicar, Henry Ellacombe, who replaced a plaster arch installed a century before by John Wood the Younger.
But above the arch is the most valuable of St Mary’s treasures: the remains of a large stone rood that dates from the year 1000AD. Very little remains, but enough to suggest that the church was once much higher – up to 5 metres.