Listed Building record MDO16118 - Parish church of St Mary, St Cuthburga and All Saints, Witchampton

Parish Church. Tower 15th century, the rest rebuilt 1832-40. Vestry added 1898. Tower walls of ironstone and greensand banding, rest of church of ashlar and flint banding, with ashlar dressings. Tiled roofs, with coped gables. Nave, chancel with vestry on south, north and south transepts, west tower.

The Church of St. Mary, St. Cuthberga and All Saints, near the centre of Witchampton Village, has walls mainly of banded flint and ashlar, and tile covered roofs. The west Tower is of the 15th century, but the remainder of the building is from 1832 to 1898. <2>

<1> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 491 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 104-105 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘(1)THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY, ST. CUTHBERGA AND ALL SAINTS, near the centre of Witchampton village, has walls mainly of banded flint and ashlar, and tile-covered roofs. The West Tower, with walls of Greensand ashlar and Heathstone rubble, is of the 15th century. The South Transept bears the date 1832. The Chancel, Nave and North Transept were rebuilt in 1844 (Dorset Procs., XXXIX (1918), 118). The vestry and the organ chamber on the S. of the chancel were added in 1898 (Sarum Dioc. Regy.).
Architectural Description—The E. window of the Chancel has four trefoil-headed lights with vertical tracery under a moulded two-centred head with inner and outer labels with head-stops. The two N. windows have trefoil-headed lights in moulded square-headed surrounds. A former S. window was blocked up in 1898 and replaced by sedilia. The openings to the vestry and organ chamber are of 1898. The chancel arch is two-centred and of two chamfered orders, the outer order continuous on the responds, the inner order springing from carved corbels which appear to be of 1898. The North Transept window has three cinquefoil-headed lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head. The South Transept window is in 13th-century style, with three gradated cinquefoil-headed lights and pierced spandrels in a two-centred head; above is a date-stone of 1832.
The Nave has a two-centred archway to the N. transept, of two chamfered orders springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals. The N. windows are each of two cinque-foil-headed lights with vertical tracery in a casement-moulded square-headed surround. The S. side of the nave is uniform with that on the N.
The West Tower is of two stages divided by a weathered string-course. Near the base is an original moulded and chamfered plinth, and below this is a more boldly moulded 19th-century plinth, inserted when the level of the ground surrounding the tower was lowered. Above, the tower has an embattled parapet and a moulded parapet string-course with corner gargoyles. The diagonal N.W. and S.W. buttresses are each of four weathered stages. The square N.E. stair turret rises, in three stages, almost to the level of the parapet string-course where it is capped with weathered stonework. The doorway at the foot of the vice has a chamfered four-centred head and continuous jambs; the stairs are lit by several loops, one of them in the form of a quatrefoil. The 15th-century tower arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner order springing from carved corbels (Plate 9), the outer order dying into square responds. The 19th-century W. doorway has a moulded two-centred head and continuous jambs; flanking it are two reset date-stones of 1632; above is a 15th-century window of three cinquefoil-leaded lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head, with a heavy moulded label with worn head-stops. Roughly formed loops, set high in the S. and W. sides of the lower stage, appear to have been made for the spindles of clock-hands, now gone; the N. side retains a plain 19th-century clock-face at the same level. Each side of the upper stage has a 15th-century belfry window of two cinquefoil-headed lights with a quatrefoil spandrel light in a two-centred head with a moulded label with returned stops.
The Roofs in the chancel, nave and transepts are masked by vaulted plaster ceilings of c. 1832, with moulded ribs and carved leaf bosses.
Fittings—Bells: six; 1st modern, others by R. Wells, Aldbourne, with inscriptions of 1776 and 1777 and churchwardens' names, I. Topp, W. Topp and D. Kent. Clock: In belfry, of wrought iron, 1737. Font: comprises plain stone bowl, irregularly octagonal on plan, with circular lead-lined basin, mediaeval; pedestal, 1898.
Monuments and Floor-slab. Monuments: Reset in N. transept, on E. wall, (1) of John Cole, 1636, round-headed inscription tablet in painted stone architectural surround (Plate 15), with coupled composite columns, obelisk finials and strapwork cresting enclosing panel with shield-of-arms of Cole impaling Scobell; of sixteen shields bordering inscription panel, ten are blank, three show Cole impaling uncharged shields, one has Paulet impaling Cole and one has an uncharged shield impaling Cole. In N. transept, reset on W. wall, (2) of Elizabeth Scobell, 1631, remains of wall-monument comprising plain tablet, two flanking columns and cartouche with shield-of-arms of Scobell impaling a defaced coat; (3) of John Ridout, 1773, and his wife Elizabeth, 1791; (4) of Elizabeth Bingham, 1813, oval tablet by Hiscock of Blandford. Floor-slab: Reset in N. transept, plain Purbeck marble slab with verse in Roman capitals, 17th century.
Plate: includes silver cup and stand-paten with assay marks of 1610 (or 1630), cup with donor's inscription of Elizabeth Scobell, 1630, and shield-of-arms of Scobell impaling Pury; also silver flagon with Sheffield assay mark of 1810.
Pulpit: of oak, polygonal, with fielded and moulded panelled sides in two heights, mid 18th century.
Miscellanea: Large yellow-glazed three-handled earthenware jug inscribed 'Witchampton Bellfrey', early 19th century.’

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1977 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 98850643) Church (NAT)

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209295 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 16 2025 3:16PM