Listed Building record MDO16543 - Parish Church of St James, West Street, Kingston, Corfe Castle

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1909, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1909, lxxiii-lxxiv (Serial). SDO20.

Kingston and its Churches.
On climbing the steep hill into Kingston, the party repaired first to the handsome and costly new church built by Lord Eldon, and were here received courteously by the Vicar (the Rev. S. C. Spencer Smith). When the visitors were seated in the church
The Rev. S. C. SPENCER SMITH gave a short account of the two churches. He said that the first Lord Eldon, the great Chancellor, bought the property there from Mr. Wm. Morton Pitt, and then built the old parish church of St. James. The architect was George Stanley Repton, who, he believed, made a runaway marriage with Lady Elizabeth Scott, daughter of the first Lord Eldon, just as he before had run away with his bride, Miss Elizabeth Surtees. The church was built on the site of an ancient chapel, which was said to have possessed no features of interest. The voussoirs of a Norman arch, incised with shallow criss-cross ornamentation, are now to be seen built into the outer west wall of the old parish church, and these probably represent all that remains of the previous chapel. The oldest inhabitants of the village 30 years ago told him that there was a staircase outside that old chapel which led to a west gallery for the accommodation of a church band, and the band performed for a time after the new church had been built on the spot. The band was superseded by a barrel or grind organ. When he came into the Isle of Purbeck 30 years ago there were five barrel organs in Purbeck; and when a person wrote to the Guardian asking if any were still in existence in England, he was able to say that there were five in Purbeck alone at Kingston, Steeple, Tyneham, Creech Grange, and Bushey (a little place not far from Corfe Castle). At the foot of the mural tablet to the first Lord Eldon was a fine medallion profile by Chantrey of the great Chancellor. The new church, opened about 30 years ago, was built by Lord Eldon from the designs of George Edmund Street, and is a most beautiful and costly example of that great architect's work and favourite style. All the stone and marble came from close by, except the steps at the altar rails, which were of Dublin marble, which was also composed of shells. The bed of Purbeck marble ran all down this valley, from Swanage to Tyneham. All the Purbeck marble in England, wherever one saw it in the Temple Church and most of the cathedrals came from this valley. In geologic time it was an estuary of the sea ; the shells of which the marble was composed were deposited and eventually pressed into marble. The outside staircase turret, which was introduced by Mr. Street at Lord Eldon's request, was a copy of that at Christchurch Priory. All the glass windows were put in by Messrs. Clayton and Bell. Mr. Street was very particular about the windows. The best artists were employed, and therefore the drawing was good and the colouring fine. The figures in the south aisle were all Christian saints and in the north aisle Old Testament saints. The organ, by Young and Oldknow, was very flin, although it became rather easily affected by damp. There was also in the tower a very fine peal of eight bells, by Taylor, of Loughborough, the tenor weighing about 50 cwt., and their ringing, for a village, was good.

<1> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 243 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<2> The Church of St. James, Kingston, Dorset. (Monograph). SDO18165.

<3> Hardy, T L, 2009, St. James. Kingston, A jewel in the Purbeck Hills (Monograph). SDO18169.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 621516 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 4 2025 12:19PM