Listed Building: PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY MAGDELENE (401629)

SY 59 NW NORTH POORTON NORTH POORTON 8/180 Parish Church of St Mary Magdelene GV II Parish Church. 1861-2 by Hicks. Nave, Chancel, north Porch, with small Bell-Tower, south-east Vestry. North elevation: rubble- stone walls and chamfered plinth. Ashlar stone dressings. Plain and fish-scale tile roof with stone gable-copings and gableted moulded kneelers. Crosses at each gable-apex. Low buttresses with 2 set-offs. One storey with a steep-pitched roof. 4 windows, single lancets chamfered, and with cusped ogee heads. North porch: entrance has chamfered jambs with nook-shafts and foliage capitals, pointed-arch head with roll and hollow mouldings, Short bell-tower in angle between porch and nave. 3 stage, square broached into octagonal in the 2 upper stages. Singles lancets to each face in the bell-stage with pierced trefoils over, each side gabled, and with grotesque head-stops. Octagonal spirelet, ribbed along each arris. Chancel: 2 windows, same lancets, though with labels and foliage stops. East window of 3 stepped cusped lancets, label and stops. South-east vestry, off chancel, under a pentice tile roof with gable-copings. Coupled lancet window. Interior: Nave-windows have segmental-pointed rere-arches. Roof: High arch-braced collar type, with the braces carried on short hammer-beams; these braced down onto carved stone corbels. Naturalistic foliage and angel- supporters with scrolls. Pointed chancel-arch with naturalistic foliage capitals, short responds corbelled off with angel-supporters. Chancel has scissor-braced arch-bracing carried on foliage-carved corbels. Segmental-pointed doorway to vestry. Pulpit, by Boulton. Stone, half-octagonal, corbelled-out from a squared-off base. 4 carved panels, with diaper foliage ornament. Foliage cornice. Angels in roundels to each panel. Centre panel has ogee niche with cusped head, and carved figure of Christ in the round. Standards at corners with small heads and finials. Font, stone, octagonal bowl and circular base, foiled designs to each face, C19. Small round font bowl on short base, from old church. Stained Glass: East window, Christ Crucified in a mandorla with Saints John and Mary to each side. Grisaille glass with foliage patterns in side windows. The architectural sculpture in the church is of some quality. Source: R.C.H.M. Dorset I, p 180(1). J. Brocklebank, Victorian Stone Carvers in Dorset Churches, p 53 ff. Listing NGR: SY5188698109

Record last edited

Dec 23 2025 10:24AM