Listed Building record MDO16643 - Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Church Hill, Swanage

A nineteenth and twentieth-century parish church with a medieval tower. The three lower stages of the tower are of the fourteenth century, whilst the top stage dates from about 1620. The rest of the Church was rebuilt by T H Wyatt in 1859-60 and enlarged in 1906-8 by Clifton and Robinson with Purbeck Stone walls and roofs. A number of eighteenth century wall monuments survive from the earlier Church. The churchyard is below the level of the adjoining ground to the south, it has a Purbeck Stone retaining wall with iron railings and gates.

(SZ 02727878. Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin to the North of the High Street, Swanage, has walls of roughly coursed rubble with ashlar dressings. Fragments of early 13th century stonework are preserved in the church but the only medieval structure remaining is the west tower of the 14th century heightened circa 1620 when the rest of the church was partly rebuilt. The church was completely rebuilt in 1859-60, with the exception of the tower, and greatly enlarged in 1907. <3>

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1897, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, xlv-xlviii (Serial). SDO11.

The members then visited Swanage Church, on which the Rev. T. A. Gurney read the following paper :
" The tower in which you stand is the oldest part of the parish church of Swanage, which was originally founded as a chapelry of Worth. A little way above Newton Manor, to the south, lies the old Press Way or Priest's Way, by which the priests of Worth Matravers used to come down to Swanage for their ministrations. It was a sort of private road which still connects Swanage with its mother parish, Worth. Exactly where the original church or chapel in Swanage was, in which the priests held their service, it is impossible to do more than conjecture now. But there can be very little doubt that it must have been close to or upon the site of the present church. The Rectory orchard has been proved by excavations to be a graveyard, and beneath the older part of the present Rectory are walls filled with windows and doors with stone arches. Possibly this was the chapel in this town. We who belong to Swanage would be very proud to claim in our present church some remains carrying us back to Saxon times, but reluctantly we are compelled by hard facts to forego the claim. There is very little doubt that a service was held in the chapel which I have mentioned from a very early period, possibly Saxon. But that building was not the building in which we stand to-day. The remains of that building are to be found in the walls of the lowest portion of the present tower. You will notice, both within and without, certain stones which have very simple mouldings on them, which may have been either Norman or possibly even Saxon, which have evidently been taken from a previous building. They are, as you will doubtless notice, built in without plan or correspondence, and in their present position are clearly out of place. They indicate that the present tower was built with the help of materials taken either from a previous tower or a chapel. The splays of the north and south windows in the lowest part of the tower also appear to have belonged to other windows, if we may argue from the fact that they turn inwards at the edges and do not seem to fit the present lights. The height of this second building, which now forms the lowest portion of the present tower, is indicated by the set-offs just below the present ringers' floor. It communicated with the church by a segmental arch just under the present staircase. It was a short and exceedingly strong tower, like other church towers of the neighbourhood. It must have been entered by a door on the west side, and the narrow windows with their broad splays threw the light to the ground floor. The windows were rounded and segmental. The church which belonged to this short tower was probably an Early English one. Only a portion of it can be seen in the picture of this later (Perpendicular) church before you, forming the south transept. We have 'four-way' terminals of the same period over the Rectory entrance, indicating that the church was cruciform, and therefore had a transept. There are also some relics of Early English shafts with their central columns and capitals in the rectory garden. We believe that this chinch was built when the rectory was created about 500 years ago, and the parish separated from Worth. The windows in the north aisle of the present church were probably taken from this church, which was built not of Purbeck, but of Wiltshire stone. In the old south transept was a fine old sundial on the south side, with a gnomon of slate. A further story was added much later to the tower about 300 years ago. This later addition to the tower is half-a-foot less thick than the lowest portion. It was probably added when the Perpendicular church was built. The picture before you, drawn by the late Rev. J. M. Colson, shows a Perpendicular style. This church must have been built in place of the former Early English one at the time when the tower was added tc. The only parts of it remaining are the Perpendicular window now on the south side of the nave, which used to stand at the east end of the Perpendicular church, as the picture shows, and the two windows in the south transept which used to be south chancel windows, and probably to these we may add the oldest bell, which dates from 1594. There was a gallery on the north and west sides of the church, and the old south transept of the former Early English church was used for a vestry on the upper floor level with the old three-decker pulpit, which stood against the south wall of the church. The lower floor was a baptistry, where the old font now in St. Mark's, Herston, of Purbeck marble, stood. The church consisted then only of a nave and aisles with this old transept. The three-decker pulpit had a sound board above, on which was a dove with a holly leaf, and there were good old-fashioned pews where mind and body alike might repose during the service. No such fortune is allowed to the modern visitor to Swanage. The restoration of the church, if such a name can be properly used, took place in 1860, and was carried out by Mr. T. H. Wyatt, under the direction of the late Hector, the Rev. K. D. Travers. The interior of the tower was thoroughly restored in 1888 by the Church Lands Trustees, a local ecclesiastical charity. The present floors were put in and the old oak framework of the bells, which was very rotten, was removed, and the bells rehung by Messrs. Taylor, of Loughborough. The present framework is of iron and A shaped. At the same time four new bells were added as a gift from Mr. George Burt to the memory of his wife. The inscriptions on the old bells are :
' Thinke on God, I.W., 1594,'
' Fear God, I.W., 1612,'
' Honour the King, I.W., 1621,'
' Lester and Pack of
London fecit, 1764.' It seems likely that the original approach to Swanage from Corfe was along the valley, entering the village from Church Bridge, the little bridge just north of the church. If this be so, and there are signs of such a road up the valley for some distance, then the church occupies a similar position to St. Martin's, Wareham, at the entrance to the towji. This would be the junction of roads from Godlingstone, Corfe, Studland, and Goathorn. This was then the only bridge across the stream. We may, perhaps, go further and connect this fact with St. Aldhelm as its original founder, inasmuch as such a rule was largely adopted in Saxon times. In the church you will find several monuments bearing quaint inscriptions. One stone to a member of the Clavell family dates from 1470. This is an ancestor to the Clavell of whom we read in the curious old rhyme in Kimmeridge church. It had three effigies in brass, one male and two female figures. Our parish registers date from 1563. They contain some curious entries. Amongst the most noteworthy parochial entries in the parish accounts are the entries of the charges for French prisoners quartered on the parish during the great war, who, alas, never saw the dear shores of sunny France again, for the last of a long series stretching over several years are the entries for their shroud and grave. There are also accounts of subsidies made to the stone trade in the French War, when it was unsafe to convey stone by sea. The order for the execution of the Monmouth rebels used to lie in the safe in the memory of recent inhabitants. The order directed that the parish should pay the cost of the execution. There are several stained-glass windows in the present church. Two in the south transept are put up in memory of John and Susanna Mowlem, a name which has long had an honourable connection with Swanage. Another in the same transept is raised to the memory of the children and grandchildren of George and Elizabeth Burt. The windows in the north transept are to the memory of Thomas Randell and William Moreton Pitt, the latter of whom built the Victoria Hotel. The east window in the chancel was put in by the Coventry family, formerly in possession of the Grove, Swanage and there is a second window to the memory of Rear-Admiral Sir Eaton Travers. The window in the south side of the nave is to the memory of Elizabeth Sophia Sewell, daughter of the late Mr. George Burt. That in the north aisle was placed by Miss Colson to the memory of her father, the Rev. J. M. Colson. For the views expressed in this paper I am indebted to Mr. W. M. Hardy, who has made me his convert as to the age of the church. To remind you all of the contrast between the shortness and frailty of our own lives and the solid endurance and strength of these sacred walls, within which for a few brief minutes we stand, I will quote the curious inscription on the brass which you will see just inside the door of the church, which bears the date 1510 : ' Such as I was, so be you, and as I am so shall you be and of the soule of John Harvey God have mercy, the which deceased the 17 day of March, 1510.'

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1929 (Map). SWX1540.

Church (NAT)

<2> DOE (HRR), 1951, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Swanage Rural District 1951, 1 (Scheduling record). SWX3304.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 291-2 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Tatler, S, 2005, St Mary’s Church, Swanage. Archaeological Watching Brief, July 2005 (Unpublished document). SDO11361.

<5> Bellamy, P S, 2005, Swanage, Parish Church of St. Mary; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO11362.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457482 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 4 2025 3:17PM