The walls of the church are five feet thick and it was a refuge for residents during attacks by the French who had sailed up Newtown Creek.

This resulted in a local rhyme: In 1889 the plaster was removed from ceiling and walls—the latter a questionable proceeding—the tower arch unblocked, a new door cut through the north face and the east window of the aisle reconstructed.

The north wall is practically modern work, partly rebuilt on the old foundation and of the same thickness in 1812, when wooden mullioned windows with brick reveals took the place of what may have been 15th-century lights.

When this was blocked as a precautionary measure there is nothing to show, but its opening in 1889 and the cutting of a door in the northern face of the tower was an unwise and risky proceeding, probably resulting in the serious crack in the upper part of the north-east angle.

A noticeable feature in the church is that the floor slopes down gradually to the east end without a break at the chancel arch.