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St. Mary's stands in the grounds of Cowley Manor. It has an early 13th C rubble stone nave, and an ashlar-faced chancel added soon after. The upper stage of the tower has distinguished Late Perp work, projecting from a hollow stringcourse, with panelled angle pilasters, three-light bell-openings with crocketed ogee hoodmoulds and finials, and an embattled parapet that once had finials. Inside the church the nave has an open 14th C wagon roof. The reredos of 1876 is by Powells and was designed by Charles Hardgrave, with a mosaic of the Last Supper. The font is a Norman circular bowl with an unusual band of decoration around the top, consisting of a series of triangles eaxh containing two lozenges fixed together near the apex. At the bottom of the bowl are four chevrons placed opposite each other. The stem and base of this font are 19th C. There is stained glass in the church by James Powell & Sons, 1972-74. In the churchyard is a grand chest-tomb, with lyre-shaped ends, to Robert Briggs, Senior, who died in 1709.
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