St Mary's Church, Portbury

St Mary’s Church stands beside the M5 motorway in the village of Portbury, Somerset. Built in the 12th century, it has grown through the 13th and 15th centuries and was restored in the 1870s. A Norman doorway opens into the nave and a grand porch of the 1400s shelters visitors. Inside, the Berkeley Chantry chapel holds early burials of the Berkeley family from about 1190. Yew trees, some reputed to be nine centuries old, grow among the gravestones in the churchyard. The church is worth the journey for its Grade I listing and its working ring of six bells. The heaviest bell weighs a ton and the lightest was cast by the Bilbie family of Chew Stoke. In 2012 the tower floor was rebuilt so ringers can stand safely beside the bells. In 2013 the church was placed on the Heritage at Risk Register after water damaged the plaster ceiling. Visitors find a plain nave with a Norman arch, a fifteenth-century porch, and the Berkeley Chantry chapel. The tower contains the six bells and the ringing chamber above. Outside, ancient yews frame the graveyard and the motorway traffic passes close by.