Listed Building record MDO10393 - Church of St Mary, Piddlehinton

Parish Church built in Perpendicular style. The tower and south aisle were built in the fifteenth century, and the chancel, nave and south port in the sixteenth century. The north porch was added, the nave extended and general restorations carried out in 1867. The 1867 work by E Christian. The building has walls of ashlar and banded flint and rubble with ashlar dressings.

Parish Church of St. Mary, Piddlehinton with south tower and south aisle built in the second half of the 15th century, although an early 14th century coffin-lid in the north porch suggests that a church existed at that period. The chancel, north colonnade of the nave and south porch are of the early 16th century although the nave and north aisle were enlarged in 1867 when the north porch was also added. <2-3>

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1908, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1907, xlvii-xlviii (Serial). SDO17439.

Here the Members of the Club were received by the Rector, the Rev. J. E. Hawksley. Speculation was indulged in as to the nature of the large carved stone which has been built into the middle of the boundary wall of the churchyard alongside the road. Mr. Alfred Pope expressed the opinion that it may have been the base, or a portion of the base, of a cross, and the square cavity the socket into which the end of the shaft was inserted.
Mr. Hawksley, addressing the Members in the church, said that the first information which he had obtained about the parish of Pydelhinton was that it was given to the Priory of Morteyn, or de Mortano, in Normandy, so that the prior was practically lord of the manor and appointed to the rectory. This system went on until the year 1472, when the manor came into the hands of Eton College, which had held it ever since and appointed the rectors. As to the date of the church, Hutchins said that it was dedicated in 1295; but he (Mr. Hawksley) thought that some parts of it, probably the chancel, may have been of earlier date. The first rector was instituted in 1295. The church was enlarged in 1867 whether it was improved was another question. The nave was lengthened and the north aisle added. He called attention to three brasses of interest, the oldest of the date 1445, and also to the sedilia and the little piscina. There were five bells in the tower. He exhibited the old Communion plate, a pewter flagon and paten, a chalice, and an alms dish bearing the date 1685. The chalice had become so thin that he did not use it now. Among their rectors at Pydelhinton were two known to fame, namely, Philip Montague, who was rector in 1751, and was a great pluralist, being Dean of Salisbury, Dean of Lincoln, Provost of Eton, and Chancellor of the Garter, and finally Bishop of Lincoln ; and the saintly T. T. Carter, who was rector at Pydelhinton from 1837 to l844 and who became vicar of Clewer and canon of Windsor. On the north side of the chancel outside the church he invited admiration of the beautiful moulded doorway.

Le Pard, Gordon, 1998, Medieval sundials in Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 119, 79-80 (Article in serial). SDO21411.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, 1959 (Map). SDO10373.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 207-9 (Monograph). SDO136.

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 312-3 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454802 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 4 2025 12:52PM