Listed Building record MDO27220 - Parish Church, Whitcombe

Parish Church. C12 nave, with some later refacing and C18 rebuilding of south wall, east of porch. C15 chancel rebuilt, with reset cast window. South porch built. C16, west tower. Squared Portland rubble stone with dressings of Portland ashlar and some Ham Hill stone. Clay tile roofs with stone slates at eaves.

The parish church of Whitcombe has a 12th century nave possibly incorporating some pre-Conquest masonry at the west end. The chancel and south porch are 15th century, and the tower was added or rebuilt in the 16th century.

The church retains fragments of two pre-conquest cross shafts with interlace decoration of different types, found in 1912 built into the chancel wall. The church is said to be situated "in the midst of an ancient earthwork" (4). (2-5)

The cross fragments stand in front of a built-in doorway in the north wall of the chancel.

The "ancient earthwork" appears as a wide ditch running north-south to the south-west of the church, and another ditch running east-west to the north of the church. Both are of doubtful antiquity, but may be related to remains of earlier settlement. (6)

Parish church (of unknown dedication) Grade I. (7)

The church stands within the centre of the earthworks of the Mediaeval settlement. Now redundant, it continues to hold occassional services,and is not recommended for scheduling. Five ground photos with archive report. (8)

A fragment of 10th-11th century cross-shaft is set above the blocked North doorway of the nave, and a second fragment of 10th-11th century cross-socket or shaft is set adjacent to the first fragment. Full description. (9)

Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1863, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 2, 518 (Monograph). SWX1269.

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

Whitcombe Church
or " Widecomb," as the ancient spelling has it. The visitors, especially those who had never seen it before, were delighted at the picturesque ivy-mantled tower and the whole appearance of church and churchyard William Barnes's first charge and confessed that it seemed just the church to have a poet for its cure. Here again Mr. Leslie gave a short address.
Until the passing of the recent Benefices Act Whitcombe was one of the four donative livings in this diocese. It is said that King Athelstan gave Whitcombe to the Abbey of Milton. At any rate the rectory was from the first appropriated to the monastery of Milton, which served the cure by a stipendiary priest or one of their own monks, for no institutions occur in the Sarum registers. Later on this rectory and chapel belonged to the rectory of Milton. In this way it has passed from hand to hand until the present day. I think that most people who travel this road must be struck by the beautiful proportions of the embattled tower, which is of the loth century. The grilles in the windows are remarkably good. On that of the south side can be read the initials " M.A." (possibly those of the abbey) and the date 1500. The plan of the church, long and narrow, is Norman. The south and north doorways belong to that period, but the latter is built up. Of 13th century work there is the south porch arch and the east window, terribly spoilt from inside by the depressed ceiling and the inartistic reredos, but well worthy of examination from outside, where can be seen the original hood-moulding in good preservation. The other windows are of the 15th century. In the head of the north chancel window are two pieces of 15th century glass. The font, a very large one of Purbeck marble, is of the 12th century, with the exception of its smaller pillars, which are later. There was formerly a rood beam, probably removed in 1561. In the churchyard is the step with socket and the portion of the shaft of a 13th century cross. Perhaps the head is buried below. The weathering of the 15th century roof, which has gone, can still be seen. The church plate consists of an Elizabethan chalice and lid, with the date 1573 engraved on the lid, and a George II. flagon and dish, " The gift of Mrs. Lora Pitt to the Church of Whitcombe in Dorsetshire, 1739." There are two bells, one inscribed "Hope well, I.W., 1610," and the other " Love God, I.W., 1610." One is missing, probably the tenor. The most noticeable grave in the churchyard is an enormous table stone, on which is the laconic inscription " Spratt."
The PRESIDENT thanked Mr. Leslie heartily for the excellent accounts which he had given the party of the churches of Came and Whitcombe. The party then made the tour of the little building, which has not yet (perhaps we ought to say happily) come under the hands of the restorer. The low plaster ceiling, we should say, might go without any lamentation, but it is to be hoped that, when the postponed but inevitable "restoration" does at last come, it will take the form of preservation. It is delightful to notice how this little church, indissolubly associated with the memory of one of Dorset's best and most celebrated sons, epitomises most of the styles of English architecture, besides Perpendicular and Norman, Transitional, Early English, all three of which are scarce in Dorset certainly in comparison with the all dominating Perpendicular. The Rev. C. R. Baskett called attention to the pewter alms-dish, the sides of which are ornamented with sets of four small perforated holes. Whitcombe, we may add, is somewhat off the beaten track of antiquarian show churches in Dorset, and has hitherto suffered undeserved neglect ; but it will before long " come to its own " and be recognised as one of the most architecturally interesting, as it is admittedly one of the most beautiful, of the small parish churches of Dorset.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1912, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, xvi-xvii, xxii photo (Serial). SDO22.

IMPORTANT FIND AT WHITCOMBE CHURCH. The Rev. C. W. H. DICKER mentioned that a very interesting discovery had just been made at Whitcombe Church. A part of the chancel wall was in a ruinous condition and had to be rebuilt, and in the work were found large fragments of what appeared to be a Saxon cross, since built into the wall as coign stones. He produced the photographs which he had taken of the stones, showing the details of the interlacing carving. Mr. St. John Hope pronounced the stones to be parts of a very fine churchyard cross of Saxon work unique in Dorset, he believed. The Rev. E.G. LESLIE, Rector of Came and Whitcombe, expressed indebtedness to Mr. Dicker for his kind offices, and mentioned that, as Whitcombe was a small and poor parish, he would receive gratefully any small contributions towards the absolutely necessary work of preserving the beautiful little church which, the first charge of the Rev. William Barnes, the Dorset poet, had suddenly sprung into fame through this interesting discovery. Whitcombe was worth only £12 a year, and with no residence. The Rev. HERBERT PENTIN, as Vicar of Milton Abbey, mentioned that in bygone days Whitcombe was a capella of Milton Abbey, and in the Abbey Church they had two somewhat similar stones, but not nearly so fine. . Indeed, he had seen nothing like them in the county, with details so rich and crisply defined. Mr. DORAN WEBB pronounced the upper piece to be a portion of the arm of a 10th Century cross, and probably, if they trenched across between the chancel walls, they would find the rest of the cross. On Canon RAVENHILL'S motion two guineas was voted towards the cost of this work being done. xvi - xvii

WHITCOMBE.
At the Annual Meeting of the Club a short report was made of some carved remains of a Cross of the 10th century, which has been found in rebuilding the Chancel wall of the little Church at Whitcombe. The Chancel is of the 13th century, built on to a much earlier nave some portions of the north wall being apparently of pre-Norman date, Many other portions of the Cross have now been found embedded in the walls, but only three pieces seem to have any carving left on them. On stripping off the plaster inside the building, a number of mediaeval paintings have come to light particularly, a very fine St. Christopher, bearing the Christ Child on his shoulders and walking through the water. The Child holds the orb in His left hand, and His right hand rests upon the giant's head. Christopher carries the pine-tree staff in his right hand, and in the water a large figure of a mermaid is seen. The Church is situated in the midst of an ancient earthwork. Xxii

<2> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 19-AUG-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 71668830) Church (NAT)

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 375-6 (Monograph). SDO149.

'(1) The Parish Church (Plate 3), dedication unknown, is built of squared Portland rubble with dressings of Portland ashlar and some Ham Hill stone, and the roofs are covered with tiles and stone slates. The Nave was built in the 12th century possibly incorporating some pre-Conquest masonry at the W. end but was partly refaced in the late 15th century, the date of the Chancel and South Porch; the West Tower was added or rebuilt in the 16th century. The S. side of the nave was partly reconstructed in the 18th century.

The church retains fragments of two pre-Conquest cross-shafts and traces of wall-paintings. … '

<5> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 457-8 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1981, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1979, 143 (Serial). SDO79.

‘WHITCOMBE (SY 716883). A. Hunt reports that during November, 1979, an external drain was dug around the base of the tower of the parish church. The drainage trench, about 35 cm deep and 80 cm wide, was examined, to the north of the tower only, by A. M. Hunt and I. Brooks. It revealed tow off-sets, both of mortared Portland rubble. No other features were visible. A plan, section and notes are deposited at the Diocese of Salisbury Record Office and at the Dorset County Museum.’

<7> Cramp, R, 2006, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture: Vol VII. South-West England, 124-5 (Monograph). SDO17427.

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF051596 (Index). SDO14738.

WHITCOMBE CHURCH, WHITCOMBE

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454102 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 18 2025 3:00PM