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The church of St Mary the Virgin in Childrey consists of a chancel 32 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft. with north vestry, nave 53 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft., north transept 13 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft., south transept 19 ft. by 27 ft., south porch and west tower 13 ft. square. These measurements are internal.

The nave is apparently of late 12th-century date, though the south door is the only remaining detail of that period. The chancel was rebuilt about the middle of the 13th century. In the 14th century the north and south transepts were added and in the 15th century the west tower was built. The south porch is of the early 16th century, and about the same time the nave clearstory was added. The church has been restored in modern times.

The chancel has square flat buttresses to the eastern angles and an external string-course below the windows. The good early 15th-century east window is of five lights with tracery under a pointed head. At the west end of the north wall is a 13th-century window of two lights with a circle in the head, and further east is an old pointed doorway to the modern vestry. On the south side there are two 13th-century windows, each of two lights, and between them is a pointed doorway of the same date. The trefoilheaded piscina on this side has two drains, and further west are three sedilia with trefoiled moulded heads and attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases and a moulded string carried square over the three heads. The roof is modern. The nave is structurally undivided from the chancel, except by a modern oak arch, and has in the north wall a pointed 14thcentury arch to the north transept and further west two early 15th-century windows of three lights with pointed and traceried heads. Between them is a blocked doorway of the 13th century with moulded jambs and pointed head. At the clearstory level are four early 16th-century windows, each of three rounded lights under a square head. On the south side is an acutely pointed and continuously moulded 14th-century arch opening into the south transept or Fettiplace chapel, and at the south end of the rood screen is a large but shallow niche with a cinquefoiled head. West of the arch is a blocked door-head, formerly communicating with a doorway across the north-west angle of the adjoining transept; its use is doubtful, but it may have been connected with a former parvise over the porch. The late 12th-century south doorway is of one semicircular order with moulded imposts and hood with 'dog-tooth' ornament. Further west is a 15th-century window of three lights with a four-centred head. The south clearstory has a small three-light window east of the transept arch and two windows to the west of it similar to those on the north side. The roof is modern except for a panelled bay at the east end, with foliage ornaments at the intersections, and the curved brackets and corbels under the tie-beams.

The 14th-century north transept has a two-light east window of that date with a pointed head. In the north wall is a late 15th-century window of six lights with traceried three-centred head and a transom, the lights being cusped below it. At the north end of the west wall is a small 15th-century door with a four-centred head. In the east wall is a piscina with a shouldered head and above it a cinquefoil-headed niche. In the south-east angle is a door to the roodloft and in the east respond of the arch a squint to the chancel. The Fettiplace chapel has a three-light east window with a square head and in the south wall a four-light window with a three-centred head, both being of early 16th-century date. In the northeast angle is a squint to the chancel, and in the west wall is a 15th-century window of three lights with a four-centred head. The 14th-century piscina on the east has a trefoiled head, moulded label and a shelf. The early 16th-century roof is of the tie-beam type resting on angel corbels bearing shields; those on the east have Fettiplace, Fettiplace impaling Englefield, and a quartered coat; those on the west have a cock's head razed, the crest of Fettiplace, and the initials EF, [E]W and W (?); the intermediate corbels also bear angels.

The 15th-century west tower is of three stages, the lowest faced with ashlar on the west face and the top stage also ashlar faced. It has a deep moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet with grotesque gargoyles. The top stage is perhaps of the early 16th century. The tower arch is pointed, with continuous mouldings, and the four-centred west doorway has a square label with ends returned on themselves and quatrefoil panelled spandrels; it retains the original oak draw-bar and wedge. The 15th- century three-light west window with a four-centred head bears the Fettiplace arms with a crescent for difference at the apex. The second stage has a single rectangular light in the south wall and the bellchamber is lighted by a two-light square-headed window in each face. The south porch has a four-centred outer archway with a moulded label returned on itself at the spring, and in the west wall a squareheaded two-light window.

In the north wall of the chancel is a 14th-century tomb recess or Easter sepulchre; the tomb has a panelled front and is surmounted by a richly cusped arch with oak-leaf spandrels and an ogee crocketed super arch with a cusped quatrefoil in the tympanum. The spandrels at the sides have on the west carved oak leaves and on the east foliage with dogs and a hedgehog. Above the upper arch is a further composition of pinnacles and cusped panelling finished with an embattled cornice. At the north end of the north transept is a 14th-century tomb recess with an ogee moulded arch enriched with ball flower and crockets and having a richly cusped soffit; below it is a freestone effigy in mixed mail and plate of about 1300, with surcoat, crossed legs, feet on a lion and a blank shield on the left arm. The church contains numerous brasses; on the north side of the chancel is one with a figure in armour and a lady commemorating John Kingston, who died in 1514, and Susan his wife, with a representation of the Trinity above and two shields of Kingston and the same impaling Fettiplace; two other shields are lost. On the same side is a small headless figure of a priest of about 1450, holding a chalice, and on the south side is the well-known brass to William Fynderne, who died in 1444, and Elizabeth his wife, late wife of John Kingston, kt., with a figure in armour and tabard and a lady in horned head-dress and heraldic mantle under a double-arched canopy; mantle and tabard are inlaid with lead, and there is a marginal inscription and a shield of Fynderne, which arms appear also on the dresses. Outside the rails is a figure of a priest in academicals commemorating Brian Roos, Doctor of Laws and parson of the church, who died in 1529, with two evangelistic symbols. Another brass commemorates William Walrond, 14—, and Elizabeth his wife in a horned head-dress of about 1460 with two shields of Walrond and three fishes. To the south is a good figure of a priest in mass vestments with fragments of a marginal inscription of about 1450; at the base is an inscription to Agnes wife of John Fynderne, who died in 1441.

In the Fettiplace chapel are the following brasses: (1) On the south wall a slab with kneeling figures, a Trinity, scrolls and inscription recording, 'Here under that marble stone next before the ymage of Sent Mighell resteth the body of Thomas Walrond, who died in 1480, and Alice (Englefield) his wife'; there are shields of Walrond, Englefield and the same coats impaled. (2) On the floor is an inscription to Elizabeth and Katherine, daughters of Alexander Fettiplace, who died in 1603. (3) A figure in a shroud, with a good representation of the Trinity, commemorating Joan (Walrond) wife of Robert Strangbou, who died in 1507(?), with five shields—Walrond impaling Englefield; a bend engrailed between two lions impaling Quartermain; the same impaling a lion passant; the same impaling a lost coat and the same impaling three lions; one shield is lost. (4) To William Fettiplace and Elizabeth his wife (d. 1516), 'founders of this chantry in honor of the blessed Trinite our Lady and Seint Katherine.' The evangelistic symbols are missing, but there are three shields: Fettiplace with a ring for difference; a fesse between three cranes' heads razed with a crescent for difference quartering Walrond, Englefield and two bars between three rings; the two coats impaled. (5) A small panelled altar-tomb of Purbeck marble with a slab and embattled canopy; on the back are two brass female figures in shrouds, rising from tombs, and two shields of the same coats as the first and last of the preceding brass. The rood screen is a plain 15thcentury work of oak with seven bays on either side of the doorway, each with a cinquefoiled head; the beam is simply moulded and the base has been repaired. On either side of the chancel is an old oak stall with desks; the backs are plain with a cornice at the top and the seat has a poppy-head bench end. A few oak panelled bench ends remain in the south transept, one bearing the Fettiplace cheverons.

The font is a plain circular bowl of lead having twelve embossed figures of bishops, each with crozier, book and mitre; it is probably of the 12th century and is unique.

In the north window of the north transept is some excellent white and yellow glass of great delicacy; in the tracery are angels, archangels and the initials W.N., and below are figures of apparently the Virgin with a male head inserted, fragments of a Crucifixion, a mutilated Ascension, a fine Annunciation (St. Gabriel being represented with peacock-feather wings) and fragments of an Adoration of the Magi. Inserted in this window are the Fettiplace arms with a wreath and the date 1547; below the figures the glass is diapered. In the east window of the south transept are figures of St. Edward, St. Michael and St. Catherine, mainly modern, but including old fragments, especially in the canopies; below are three old shields of Bessels quartered with Leigh impaling Harcourt, Fettiplace with a ring for difference impaling a disarranged quartered coat, and Fettiplace impaling Argent three fleurs de lis and a border gules. In the north transept are numerous much-worn slip tiles, several bearing the letter A. On the south-east buttress of the south transept is a sundial dated 1707.

There are six bells: the treble by G. Mears & Co., 1865; the second by Pack & Chapman, 1770; the third recast by Mears & Stainbank, 1807; the fourth inscribed 'R.A, I.H. churchwardens 1639'; the fifth 'Sancta Anna ora pro nobis' in Roman capitals, and the tenor inscribed 'W.B, I.V. churchwardens 1632.' There is also a ting-tang by James Wells of Aldbourne, 1806.

The plate includes a small pre-Reformation paten (London, 1496), with a circle in the centre inclosing a head of our Lord in a sexfoil with leaves in the outer spandrels; a 17th-century cup without marks; a modern paten and a plated almsdish.

The registers previous to 1812 are as follows: (i) mixed entries 1558 to 1653; (ii) baptisms 1654 to 1696, marriages 1655 to 1695, burials 1654 to 1692; (iii) burials 1678 to 1789; (iv) mixed entries 1697 to 1770; (v) baptisms 1770 to 1812, burials 1789 to 1812; (vi) marriages 1755 to 1812. The churchwardens' accounts date back to 1568.

Historical information about St. Mary's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Childrey', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 272-279. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp272-279 [accessed 28 February 2023].

St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MARY, Childrey - 1048743 | Historic England.

For more information about St. Mary's Church see Parishes: Childrey | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).