Listed Building record MDO13343 - All Saints' Church, Tarrant Monkton

The chancel is around 1400 in origin but was extensively restored in the eighteenth century. Similarly, the nave is also fifteenth century with eighteenth century alterations. The West Tower is fifteenth century, but its upper stage was rebuilt in the eighteenth century. The north aisle formerly had a ceiling dated 1624 but this seems to have been removed in a church restoration of 1873, at which time the south chapel and north porch seem to have been built. The building is banded ashlar and flint, with ashlar dressings, and the roof is slated and tiled. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

Church of All Saints. Parish church, chancel C1400, nave and tower C15, some refenestration and alterations both C16 and C18, general restoration, north aisle, south chapel and north porch 1873. <1>

The parish church of All Saints has a chancel of circa 1400, and 15th century nave and west tower, all extensively altered and rebuilt in the 18th century. The south chapel and north porch appear to date from a restoration of 1873. <2>


Additional reference. <3> <5>

<1> DOE (HHR), 1954, List of Buildings of Special Historic or Architectural Interest: Blandford Rural District (Scheduling record). SDO17701.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 108 (Monograph). SDO99.

‘(1) THE PARISH CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, on the W. of the village, has walls of banded ashlar and flint with ashlar dressings, and slated and tiled roofs. The Chancel, of c. 1400 in origin, was extensively restored in the 18th century. The Nave is of the 15th century, with 18th-century alterations; the West Tower also is of the 15th-century, but the upper stage was rebuilt in the 18th century. Hutchins (III, 574) records that the North Aisle formerly had a ceiling dated 1624, but this has gone, probably in the 'restorations' of 1873; the South Chapel and the timber North Porch appear to be of 1873.
Architectural Description—The Chancel has a plain plinth and an 18th-century E. window of three gradated lancet lights. The N. wall has similar windows of two and of one lancet lights, that on the E. occupying a slightly wider mediaeval opening, the jambs of which are visible externally. The S. wall has windows as in the N. wall and, between them, a restored mediaeval doorway with a chamfered two-centred head, continuous jambs and run-out stops. The original chancel arch is two-centred and of two chamfered orders, the inner order dying into the responds and the outer order continuous. Externally on the E. gable of the nave is the creasing-course of a former chancel roof, slightly higher than the present slate-covered roof. Inside, the chancel has a plain 18th-century plaster barrel-vault and moulded cornices.
The N. side of the Nave has two 19th-century arches to the N. aisle. Further W. the N. wall contains a 19th-century window of three trefoil-headed lights; the external face of the wall was largely restored in the 19th century, but the N.W. corner retains an original 15th-century square-set buttress with a chamfered plinth and three weathered offsets. The S. wall has, on the E., a 19th-century archway to the S. chapel; further W. is a square-headed doorway with a chamfered lintel and jambs, probably of the 16th century, now blocked. Adjacent on the W. is a square-headed 15th-century window of three trefoil-headed lights in a casement-moulded surround, and further W. is a similar window, except that the lights have plain two-centred heads and the surround is hollow-chamfered; this last window probably is of the early 16th century. The S.W. corner of the nave has a square-set buttress of two weathered stages.
The West Tower is of two stages, with chamfered plinths, an 18th-century plat-band between the stages, and a moulded string-course below a plain parapet; the remains of mediaeval gargoyles are reset at the corners of the string-course. In the lower stage the N.W. and S.W. corners have stout diagonal buttresses of two stages with weathered offsets. The tower arch is two-centred, with a plain chamfer on the E. side only, and with continuous jambs. The W. window is of two trefoil-headed lights in a square-headed surround; high in the lower stage is a small square-headed W. light with a chamfered surround. In the upper stage the E. side of the tower has an 18th-century belfry window of two square-headed lights flanked by reset mediaeval label-stops representing a human and a grotesque head. The W. side has a reset 15th-century window of two trefoil-headed lights with a central quatrefoil in a two-centred head with a moulded label. The N. and S. sides have no openings; reset in the S. side is a mediaeval head-stop.
Fittings—Bells: three; 1st by John Danton, with 'Prayse the Lord, 1629, J.D.': 2nd by Clement Tosier, inscribed in Roman capitals 'Thomas Isaacks and John Isaacks churchwardens of the parish of Tarrant Monkton: C.T. cast me in the year of 1694'; 3rd by John Wallis, with 'Feare the Lord I.W. 1610', badly cracked. Font: of Purbeck stone, with tapering square bowl with four round-headed panels on each side, on plain stout centre shaft and four plain corner shafts, and square base; bowl, 12th-century, shafts restored, base modern. Graffito: on S. doorway of chancel, 1757.
Plate: includes silver cup and cover-paten by 'Gillingham' silversmith (Plate 24), cup of usual pattern, cover-paten bowl-shaped and with inscription 'William Dashwood and Robert Tuffin Churchwardens 1607'. Pulpit: of oak, polygonal, four sides with fielded and enriched panelling in two heights, moulded cornice with strapwork frieze, and moulded base, late 17th century. Royal Arms: of George IV, on canvas in wood frame.’

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 419 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1976 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 94390881) All Saints' Church (NAT)

<5> Hall, T A, 2000, Minster Churches in the Dorset Landscape, 100 (Monograph). SDO10264.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209438 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 16 2025 2:20PM