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The church of St. Mary the Virgin at Buckland is of cruciform plan, consisting of a chancel 48 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. with north vestry and organ chamber, north transept 16 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft., south transept 16 ft. 8 in. by 21 ft. 6 in., central tower 15 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft. 3 in., nave 54 ft. 6 in. by 22 ft. 6 in. and a south porch. These measurements are all internal.

The nave was built in the 12th century and is unusually wide. In the 13th century the chancel, transepts, and central tower were rebuilt and the south porch added. In the 15th century the embattled parapet was added to the nave. The church has been restored in modern times, when the north vestry and organ chamber were added.

The chancel has a late 13th-century east window with double-chamfered jambs and pointed head; it is divided into five lights by plain mullions carried up to the head. In the first, second and fourth bays of the north wall are similar windows, but each of three lights. Below the second is a modern door to the vestry. In the third bay is a modern opening to the organ chamber. In the south wall there are four windows uniform with those on the north. In the east wall is a locker, and there are two others in the north wall, one being of triangular form. The latter contains a heart, said to be that of William Holcott (d. 1575). The piscina in the south wall is moulded and trefoil-headed, with a modern shelf and a circular drain; set in the back is an alabaster carving of the Adoration of the Shepherds, not in situ. Adjoining on the west are three sedilia, stepped up, and each having a moulded and trefoiled head. Near the west end of this wall are the jambs and rough arch of a blocked doorway. The low-pitched roof has massive tie-beams with curved braces and plain king-posts, below which are large foliage bosses. The main beams are moulded, and at the intersections of the intermediate rafters and purlins are foliage bosses. In the east bay are four shields, apparently original, and bearing Or on a cross engrailed gules five roses or. The other shields on the cornice are apparently modern. Immediately above the altar screen is a moulded and embattled beam a short distance below the wall-plates. The modern organ chamber has an original window refixed in the outer wall and similar to those in the chancel. In the vestry an old doorway has been refixed.

The 13th-century central tower rests on four uniform arches, each pointed and of three chamfered orders; the responds are completely restored and have each an attached shaft on the inner face with a modern foliage capital. The tower is of three stages and is finished with an embattled parapet. The bellchamber is lighted by two lancet windows in each face. The late 13th-century north transept has a lofty three-light window in the north wall with a segmental pointed head. In the east and west walls are threelight windows uniform with those in the chancel, the mullions being carried up to the head. In the east wall is a trefoil-headed piscina with a shelf and broken drain. The south transept is of the same date and character as the north arm, but the windows have been extensively restored. The south gable is dated 1787 and has an ancient gable cross. The interior has been elaborately fitted up as a chapel with oak stalls, mosaic floor and walls. The modern decoration covers remains of some early mural painting. Against the south-east tower pier is the springer of an arch, perhaps indicating a transeptal chapel, and further south is a modern doorway. In the south wall is a round-headed piscina.

The 12th-century nave has three small deeply splayed lights in the north wall with round heads, all placed very high in the wall. Between the second and third is the 12th-century north doorway with a semicircular arch of two moulded orders and a plain panelled tympanum; the jambs have each two shafts with cushion capitals. In the south wall is a large 15th-century window of four lights with a traceried head, and further west are two 12th-century windows similar to those on the north. Between them is the south doorway, exactly similar to the north doorway, but all partly restored; the oak door retains its original ironwork intact with voluted straps and hinges. The west window of five lights is similar in date and character to the east window. The unusually large south porch is of the 13th century and has a modern outer archway and a two-light window in the west wall. In the east wall is a trefoil-headed niche. On the south wall of the nave is a square sundial dated 1741.

In the north chancel wall is a 14th-century tomb recess with an ogee arch, a moulded label and a cinquefoiled soffit; the hollow moulding is enriched with a row of large 'ball flowers.' Under the third window in the south chancel wall is another tomb recess of the same date with a wide moulded arch; on the face is a line of alternate trefoil and quatrefoil leaves and the soffit is carved with fleurs de lis and roses; the label has head-stops and a crowned head at the apex. In the north transept is the indent of a floreated crosswith a marginal inscription in Lombardic characters to 'Dame Felice la Blonde.' Against the north wall is an alabaster and black marble monument to Sir Edward Yate, bart., who died in 1645, and his wife Katherine (Baker). It has a black marble slab and two Corinthian columns at the back supporting a pediment with a shield of arms, Yate quartering Goddard and Justice and impaling Azure a fesse or with three cinquefoils gules thereon between three ducks' heads razed or and collared gules, for Baker of Sissinghurst. Further west is a brass to John Yate (1578) and Mary (Justice) his wife, with male and female figures in civilian costume, five sons, seven daughters and five shields, the first Yate impaling Goddard, the second Yate impaling a quartered coat, two cheverons ermine and a goat's head razed between three birds, the third Yate quartered with Goddard, the fourth Yate quartering Goddard impaling two cheverons and a crescent for difference, the fifth Yate and Goddard quartered, impaling Justice of Reading. On the west wall is a black and white marble tablet with Ionic side columns and a cleft pediment to Sir John Yate, bart. (1658), with a shield of Yate impaling Pakington of Chaddesley Corbett. There are three hatchments and three early 17th-century funeral helms on the east wall. On the west wall of the south transept is a marble slab dated 1560 recording the burial of numerous members of the Holcott family and beginning with John Holcott (1292); in the middle is a defaced shield. In the east window are five late 13th-century glass shields with the following arms: Gules three lions passant argent with a label of five points azure, for Giffard; Sable a lion or with a forked tail, for Kingston; the same coat with a bend gules over all; Kingston with a label of five points gules; Giffard without the label.

In the east window of the north transept are some fragments of old grisaille glass and in the first window on the south of the nave the head is filled with old foliage and heraldic glass with some modern additions. Two of the shields appear to be old; one bears the arms of William de Edington, Bishop of Winchester; the other is Newburgh quartering Beauchamp.

Across the west face of the tower, within the nave and above the arch, is a wooden gallery with a rail resting on a Jacobean balustrade with keyed arches and turned balusters. Some similar work remains near the west end of the nave used as the fronts to the last pews. The pews themselves are mostly of old panelled oak. The Jacobean pulpit is hexagonal and richly carved; the angles have diminishing pilasters of the Ionic order and each face has a rusticated and perspective arch with a cleft pediment above. The late 14th-century font is octagonal and has cusped quatrefoils and blind window tracery in alternate panels. The chancel screen and altar screen are modern, but in the chancel is a brass candelabrum given by Thomas Cheyney, S.T.P., in 1733, apparently to New College, Oxford. It bears the arms of Cheyney and New College.

The tower contains six bells. The treble was given by Mr. W. Niven, F.S.A., in 1898, the second, third, fourth and fifth are dated 1636, and the tenor, of 1721, by Rudhall of Gloucester, is inscribed, 'I to the church the living call and to the grave do summon all.'

The plate includes a cup (London, 1565) with incised band round the bowl; a paten (London, 1638) inscribed 'Buckland in Commitate Berks'; a plate (London, 1697) with two shields of Southby and three bends, and a large flagon (London, 1721) inscribed 'The gift of E.S. to the parish of Buckland, 1722.' 

The registers previous to 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1691 to 1783, marriages 1693 to 1754; (ii) marriages 1754 to 1812; (iii) baptisms 1783 to 1812; (iv) burials 1783 to 1812.

Historical information about St. Mary's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Buckland', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 453-460. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp453-460 [accessed 24 February 2023].

St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MARY, Buckland - 1181905 | Historic England.

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