St. Mary's Church, Brading

St Mary’s Church stands in the heart of Brading on the Isle of Wight. A medieval parish church, it dates back to the twelfth century and shows layers of history in every stone. The unusual 13th-century tower rises on four piers at the entrance, one of only four such towers in Britain. Inside, the nave and aisles reveal work from the late 12th century through the 14th and 15th centuries. The Rev. Legh Richmond served here from 1798 to 1805 and is credited with introducing numbered hymn boards during his time. The church holds notable memorials and fittings. The Oglander Chapel at the east end of the south aisle contains carved wooden effigies of knights above family tombs. Two fonts survive from the 13th and 15th centuries, and funerary hatchments line the walls of the north aisle. Eight bells hang in the tower, the heaviest weighing 10.5 hundredweight in the key of G, with the oldest bell cast in 1594. Four Commonwealth war graves from the First World War lie in the churchyard. Visitors walk beneath the unusual tower and along aisles that tell centuries of change. The pipe organ by Forster and Andrews, installed in 1864, still fills the space with music. The Oglander effigies and hatchments offer glimpses of local gentry long gone. The church remains a quiet witness to faith and history, its walls holding stories from the Middle Ages to the modern age.