Milton Abbey

St James, Milton Abbas

St Mary, Winterbourne Whitechurch

St Mary, Charminster

St Andrew, Minterne Magna

St Mary, Cerne Abbas

 

St James the Great, Longburton

St Mary the Virgin, Gillingham

Lady St Mary, Wareham

St Martin's-on-the-Wall, Wareham

St Stephen, Bournemouth

St Stephen's is one of the masterpieces of Gothic revival architecture in England, and is one of two major Victorian churches in Bournemouth. It was a favourite of poet John Betjeman.

The church was commissioned in memory of the first Vicar of Bournemouth, Alexander Morden Bennett, who was a leading exponent of the high church Tractarian movement. The architect chosen was J L Pearson. The foundation stone was laid in 1881 and the tower finally completed in 1907.

The church has a double-aisled nave with transepts, and an apsed chancel with a narrow ambulatory behind. Pearson chose a restrained Early Gothic style, but the astonishing interior is achieved through a clever use of space: the aisles and arcades are relatively low, but are surmounted by a very tall clerestory with large paired lancet windows; the final bay before the chancel arch tapers inwards, giving the impression of greater length; the low springing of the nave vault creates an impression of height; and the double aisles and ambulatory means that almost every vista presents a forest of columns.

Although austere, the choice of high quality materials and the fact it is vaulted throughout lends the church a serene beauty, enhanced by spare but high quality furnishings. The delicate wrought iron chancel screens and gates were designed by Pearson, and the floors are inlaid with imported coloured marbles. But the highlight (almost literally, as it is deliberately floodlit) is the gilded reredos by Nathaniel Hitch, with panels of saints upon background of rich blues and reds.

The church still retains its Anglo-Catholic tradition of worship and a renowned choir.

St Stephen's Way, Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6JZ

St Peter, Bournemouth

St Peter's stands on the east side of Bournemouth centre, half way up a hill. The splendid Gothic revival exterior contains within some of the richest Victorian Gothic interiors in the country.

Built from 1854 onwards to replace an earlier church, the architect was George  Edmund Street (1824-1881). The west tower with its spire is something of a landmark, and leads to a nave with north and south aisles (the latter surviving from the earlier church). These have tiled murals and extensive wall decoration, an hors d'ouvres to the feast to come.

The chancel arch is surmounted by a mural by Clayton & Bell, but it is the choir and south transept which steal the show. These are richly decorated with murals, tiling, carved marble and alabaster, with every surface, from floor to ceiling, a riot of pattern and colour.

The nave houses a cafe during the week, providing employment for people with learning difficulties. In the steeply sloping churchyard is the tomb of the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1797-1851), the heart of Shelley buried beside her.

Hinton Rd, Bournemouth, Dorset BH1 2EE

St Peter, Dorchester

St Peter's is a classic mediaeval town church, containing some interesting memorials, although today is rather hemmed in by traffic.

Although there has been a church on the site since Norman times, the present building dates from 1454, after a bequest for a new church was left in 1420. It was restored in 1856, the architect's assistant being one Thomas Hardy, the novelist. One of its rectors, John White (1606-1648) was instrumental in the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, forerunner of the American State.

The church is essentially Perpendicular Gothic throughout, and has a fine west tower, porch, and an aisled nave and a chancel flanked by chapels. The main doorway in the porch has zig-zag decoration and was probably re-used from the earlier church. The pulpit is an attractive 17th century example, but the main interest lies in the memorials.

In the south chapel are the effigies of two knights, probably dating from the 14th century. The guide-book suggests they have come from a former monastery. Rather hidden behind the organ is the very fine memorial to Sir John Williams (d. 1617) and his wife, erected in 1628, and a good example of its type. Sir John and his wife face each other kneeling, under a large arched canopy, decorated with strapwork. It deserves to be better placed.

In the north aisle is a splendid classical monument to Denzil, Lord Holles (d. 1680), who played a major role in trying to reconcile the parliamentary and royalist factions after the English Civil War. Finally, the reredos depicts the Last Supper, and commemorates the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, known for his campaigning for the abolition of child labour.

The church is part of the united benefice of Dorchester.

High West Street, Dorchester DT1 1UG

Christchurch Priory

Christchurch Priory has a magnificent setting, in a moated precinct adjacent to Christchurch Harbour, at the end of the old town's main street. It is the longest parish church in England (over 311ft) and its cathedral-scale interior and its monuments have survived remarkably well down the centuries.

History

A Saxon Minster dedicated to the Holy Trinity was built in the 7th century, but was torn down and replaced by the current building, begun in 1094. Much of this Norman church survives in the nave and the transepts. the Choir (here called the Quire) and Lady chapel being rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in the 15th century, along with the west tower, built to replace a central tower which collapsed.

The Church

From the outside, the Norman work can seem rather forbidding, and the two-storey Early Gothic porch would be worthy of a castle fortification. The contrast with the later Quire and Lady Chapel, with their flying butresses and great windows, is startling. There is one gem to be noted on its exterior from the Norman period, however: the celebrated north transept stair turret, a perfect composition of vigorous blind arcading and trellis patterns.

Inside, the impressive nave of 7 bays is classic Norman work, with rounded arches in the arcade and triforium, giving way to early pointed arches in the clerestory and arcade windows. Heading east, the Quire screen dates from 1320 and leads to the Great Quire, and the magnificent High Altar screen of 1360, depicting a Tree of Jesse.

High above the Lady Chapel ambulatory is a cut-off beam; it was said the carpenters found the original too short when it was hoisted into place. Vexed at what to do, the next day they returned to find the beam now fitted, and was in place. The only explanation was a carpenter who had worked and eaten alone, but was not seen after the beam was inserted. The legend grew up that it was Christ himself, as carpenter, who had performed the miraculous deed.

The church abounds with monuments of high quality. Of particular note are the four beautifully preserved chantries, that of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (built in 1529) being the most magnificent, with suberb fan vaulting. The Quire has an outstanding set of choir stalls and misercords, depicting themes as varied as King Richard III, a salmon, a Fox in a pulpit, and scenes from a fair. My favourites include a man sword fighting with geese, and two contortionists - one of whose feet is being bitten by a dog.

Finally, under the tower is a memorial to the poet Shelley (1792-1822), placed here, it is said, because his own parish church in Bournemouth refused to house a memorial to someone of such notorious character.

Christchurch Priory, Quay Road, Christchurch BH23 1BU

Wimborne Minster

Wimborne Minster is a fascinating church, occupying pride of pace in the historic market town. It contains architecture from all the major mediaeval styles from Norman Romanesque to Perpendicular Gothic.

The church was founded around 705AD as a nunnery by St Cuthberga, sister of King Ina of the west Saxons. It was visited by St Boniface, the evangelist of Germany, and Alfred the Great buried his brother Ethelred (837-871) here. But the monastery was destroyed in a Danish raid in 1013. Edward the Confessor refounded the church as a college of secular canons in 1043, and it prospered as a royal peculiar during the Middle Ages.

The oldest part of the church is the crossing under the central tower, and the huge arches date from around 1120. The upper part of the toweris later, and the nave later still, with wonderful arcades of transitional arches - pointed in the gothic style, yet with Norman decoration of chevrons and dogtooth, and some wonderful corbels of animals and human heads. The original Norman clerestorey now sits below a later one in the Perpendicular style.

The north transept contains a Saxon remnant (a stair turret) within a Decorated Gothic space, rebuilt in 1350. The walls have fragments of wall paintings from the 13th-15th centuries. The south transept was extended around 1220. The chancel has a mixture of styles and sits above a crypt built in 1340. Finally, the west tower was added in the Perpendicular style in 1464 to house a peal of bells: this allowed the later opening up of the central tower space.

The church has many fittings of interest. In the west tower is a 14th century astronomical clock, adjacent to the early Decorated font. there are some very fine and fascinating tombs: a fine coloured Jacobean monument to Sir Edmund Uvedale (d. 1606), apparently with two left feet; a magnificent tomb chest with effigies to John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (d. 1444) and his wife Margaret. the arch above has a wonderful corbel figure of Moses with a plaited beard. Also in the chancel is a brass to King Ethelred, dating from 1440, and the only brass to an English King. the adjacent choir stalls have Jacobean misericords carved in 1610.

In the Holy Trinity chapel is the tomb of Anthony Erricke, a barrister who asked to buried in the wall so je would be neither inside nor outside the church. predicting his own death in 1693, he died ten years later, so the dates were rather crudely changed on his coffin.

The church has a regular cycle of services during the weekand is a popular visitor attraction, with a small shop.

High Street, Wimborne, BH21 1HT

Sherborne Abbey

Sherborne is a wonderful little town, and well worth a day trip from London (or anywhere else, for that matter). It is famous for its schools, and having not one, but two, castles. But for me, the Abbey is the main event. It is one of the most impressive non-Cathedral churches in the UK and built on a cathedral-like scale, having been at various times both a Cathedral and an Abbey.

History

Sherborne has a long history, dating back to Saxon times. A See was created here in 705, when King Ine divided the See of Winchester and appointed his relative Aldhelm, the abbot of Malmesbury, as its first bishop. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, two Kings of Wessex are buried in the church: Ethelbald (d. 860) and Ethelbert (d. 866), two older brothers of Alfred the Great. The see was divided up in 909 when the dioceses of Wells, Crediton (forerunner of Exeter) and Ramsbury were created, although Sherborne was later merged with Ramsbury.

After the Conquest, the See of Sherborne was moved to Old Sarum (and later to Salisbury), and the church settled down to what should have been a quieter life as a Benedictine Abbey. But in the 15th century, the church was the scene of a great dispute between the townspeople and the monks of the Abbey.

As was common in those days, the townspeople worshipped in the Nave of the Abbey, with the Chancel reserved for the monks. From the 14th century, a separate church, dedicated to All Hallows, was built as an extension immediately to the west of the nave to house the growing population of the town.

Late in the 14th century, the monks began rebuilding the Abbey in the new Perpendicular Gothic style. By 1437, new Perpendicular vaults had been erected over the north transept and the choir, new windows inserted, and a new tower completed. But the chancel was only half rebuilt when a serious argument between the monks and the townspeople came to a head.

The argument started when the monks repositioned the font in the nave, at the same time narrowing a door into the nave from the church of All Hallows. The townspeople objected to the changes and wanted them reversed: when the monks refused, they reacted with perfect pique: they erected their own font in All Hallows, and rang the church bells at times calculated to cause the monks annoyance, during their Divine Offices.

The matter was adjudicated in 1437 by Bishop Neville of Salisbury, who essentially suggested restoring things to how they had been, as well as curtailing the bell-ringing. But this did not pacify the now enraged townspeople, who rioted and burned the church. (The scorch marks can still be seen in the crossing and choir walls).

The townspeople were made to pay for its rebuilding, and pay handsomely: it was rebuilt in the best Perpendicular style, with the nave vault finally completed towards the end of the 15th Century. However, the parishioners had the last laugh: At the Dissolution, the monks were expelled and the Abbey became their parish church, and over the years was adapted with the addition of galleries and box pews. There was also no longer any need for All Hallows, which was demolished and the materials sold off; its scant remains are visible at the west end of the present church.

By the mid 19th century, Sherborne was in need of major restoration, which was carried out with unusual sensitivity by R C Carpenter and William Slater from 1850-58, with further work on the tower by R H Carpenter in 1884. Further restorations of the roof and glass were carried out in 1878-81.

The interior

Essentially, most of what can be seen today dates from the rebuilding of the 15th century, although beneath this, much of the Norman fabric and the original ground plan remain. The crossing is entirely Norman work, as is the porch, with a Lady Chapel surviving from the 13th century. A Saxon doorway survives at the west end in the north aisle, and the Norman doorway - complete with the controversial narrowing - at the west end of the south aisle.

But what grabs the attention is the rebuilt nave and choir, in the finest Perpendicular Gothic: and what really grab one's attention are the fan vaults. These are truly spectacular, and support the shallowest of arches (so much so that they have needed much subsequent reinforcing: the choir is the earliest surviving large-scale fan vault to have been built, and its design was rather over ambitious). The nave and choir vaults are about 50 years apart in date, but both are decorated with the most elaborate of ribs and bosses - each carved with a different theme.

It is also worth noting the irregularities of the nave: the nave piers of the arcade do not correspond to the clerestory windows above, suggesting that the original Norman arches were faced in the perpendicular style, but the rest of nave rebuilt from the clerestory upwards.

The church has furnishings worthy of a cathedral as well: there is notable stained glass by Pugin and the firm of Clayton & Bell, alongside some mediaeval fragments in St Katherine’s Chapel; several impressive tombs and memorials, most notably to Sir John Horsey (d. 1546) and his son (d. 1564), both in full armour; and the huge, confident classical monument to John Digby (d. 1698) and his two wives in the south transept.

The choir has some exceptional carved misericords, with themes such as a wife beating her husband and a master beating a boy. More modern is the beautiful Reredos in the Lady Chapel by Laurence Whistler.

The Abbey has the usual shop, located in the Close, and a vibrant active church life, with an impressive choir and a regular programme of evening concerts, in addition to a visiting programme for children and, of course, a regular programme of services.

But the joy of the Abbey also rests in its setting, with its grounds nestling in the heart of this attractive little town.

Abbey Close, The Parish Office, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LQ