St Mary's Church, Brentingby

St Mary’s Church in Brentingby is a former Anglican church now converted into a private house, its 14th-century nave altered in 1660 and the tower left standing. The limestone tower, listed Grade II, rises four stages with blocked lancet windows and a saddleback roof topped by an octagonal spirelet. Inside the tower’s upper stage are ogee-headed bell openings, while the gables hold lancet openings and ballflower niches. The church matters because its 1972–73 excavation uncovered reused medieval stones and a series of wall paintings. Among the finds were Royal arms from George I’s reign, fragments of the Ten Commandments, and a memento mori showing a skeleton and a man with a musical instrument. One of the two original bells dated to the 14th century, the other probably to the 16th. Visitors see the tower’s exterior with its string courses and blocked windows, and the removed memento mori displayed nearby. The nave’s interior survives as part of the private home, while the tower remains in care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The surrounding Melton Mowbray parish includes several former rural churches within two miles.