 St
Mary’s Parish Church is a fine example of the perpendicular
style of architecture, mostly built in the 1300’s with a superb
tower and spire rising to a height of 164ft, it is one of only five
crocketed spires (a decorative feature on the spire) in the county.
Inside it has a strainer arch, a device inserted to prevent the
external walls caving in. It is a rare architectural detail, there
being one other almost identical example at Finedon (also in Northamptonshire)
and a number in Wells Cathedral. St Mary’s contains some interesting
pre-reformation glass, attractive carved screens, an angel roof
of carved figures holding musical instruments and two excellent
Elizabethan tombs of members of the Pemberton family who lived at
Rushden Hall. The kneeling figures are those of Robert Pemberton
and his wife Mary, the recumbent figure is Robert’s younger
brother, Sir Goddard Pemberton, MP for Lewes in Sussex and High
Sheriff of Hertfordshire.
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