Monument record MDO3009 - Parish church of St Peter, Winterborne Came

Winterborne Came is one of a string of deserted settlements along the south Winterbourne Valley. Since 1989 the church has been vested in the Redundant Churches Fund. The nave is basically fourteenth-century, the chancel early fifteenth century. The tower was added in the late fifteenth century and the nave was refenestrated. The north porch is a seventeenth century addition and the roof was restored in 1883. The walls are of local rubble with freestone dressings; the nave, chancel and porch roofs are covered with slates and the tower with lead. William Barnes, the Dorset poet, was rector of the church for 24 years and is buried in the churchyard.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 70478840) St. Peter's Church (NAT)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 383-384 (Monograph). SDO149.

‘(1) The Parish Church of St. Peter stands at the N. end of the parish in the middle of Came Park. The walls are of local rubble with freestone dressings; the roofs are slate-covered. The Nave was built in the 14th century. In the early 15th century the Chancel was rebuilt wider, and later in the century the West Tower was added and the nave refenestrated. The North Porch is a 17th-century addition.

The church is of little architectural interest but among the fittings the monuments, chairs and screen are noteworthy.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (15½ ft. by 18¾ ft.) is structurally undivided from the nave. The E. window is largely or entirely modern. In the N. wall is an early 15th-century window of two trefoiled lights with sunk spandrels in a square head and a chamfered segmental-pointed rear arch. In the S. wall is a late 15th-century window of three cinque-foiled lights with pierced spandrels in a square head, with moulded reveals. The Nave (31¼ ft. by 18¾ ft.) has, in the N. wall, a much restored window uniform with the S. window of the chancel; the N. doorway, probably of the 14th century, has a two-centred head and continuously moulded jambs; further W. the wall-surface may indicate the site of a window. In the S. wall are two windows, the eastern similar to that opposite and the western, once probably similar to the foregoing, but with the head replaced by a flat lintel; the 14th-century S. doorway, now blocked, has a segmental-pointed head and continuously moulded jambs.
The West Tower (about 7½ ft. square), of late 15th-century date, is of two stages with an embattled parapet. The acute segmental-pointed tower arch is of one continuous chamfered order. On the N. side is a porch for the access of bellringers, added probably in the early 19th century. The partly restored W. window is of three cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with moulded reveals and a label. The bell-chamber has, in each wall, a window of one square-headed light. The North Porch (7½ ft. by 5½ ft.) has a 17th-century outer archway, semicircular and springing from chamfered responds with square imposts. The ceiling has a plaster barrel vault with moulded timber ribs.

Fittings—Bells: two, not inspected but said to be late mediaeval and inscribed respectively 'Sancta Maria' and 'Maria' (Raven, 18). Book: Book of Common Prayer, Oxford 1784, inscribed 'Came Church Damer Pew'. Bracket: to support S. end of rood-beam, of stone roughly shaped. Brasses: in nave, to Charles Notley, 1620, rectangular plate; see also Monument (4). Chairs (Plate 9): in chancel—two, of rosewood, upholstered seats and backs, the latter with cresting enriched with gilt metal mounts, the solid arms and backs with gilded metal angels holding swags, early 19th-century, French. Communion Rail: arcaded with turned and moulded pillars supporting enriched semicircular arches under a moulded capping, early 17th-century. Door: In N. doorway—divided into vertical panels by moulded battens, nail-studded with drop-handle and strap-hinges with fleur-de-lys ends, 17th-century. Font: octagonal Ham Hill stone bowl with chamfered underside, octagonal Portland stem on square base with spurs, probably 14th-century. Hatchments: In nave—on N. wall, with lozenge-of-arms of Damer, 19th-century; on S. wall two, one of Mary, daughter of Lord Hugh Seymour, 1848, with arms of Dawson quartering Damer impaling Conway quartering Seymour, and second of George Lionel DawsonDamer, 1856, husband of the above, with same arms and cross of the Order of the Bath. Helmet: In chancel—on N. wall, combed and with vizor, late 16th or early 17th-century, probably belonging to Meller monument below.

Monuments: In chancel—on E. wall, (1) to Hon. Lionel Damer, son of the first Earl of Dorchester, 1807, also Williamsea (Janssen) his widow, 1825, stone tablet in Gothic style, signed J. Browne, London, 1839; in N.E. angle, (2) to John Meller, no date, and Anne his wife, 1610/11, stone altar-tomb with effigies (Plate 12); altar-tomb with bracketed and dentilled cornice and moulded plinth bearing traces of colour; side divided into three bays and end into two bays by Ionic pilasters, each bay with two shallow niches containing kneeling figures of sons and daughters; effigies of man in civil costume with head on helmet and feet on lion, and of woman in enriched head-dress and with ruff (Plate 20); on wall at back, a tablet with achievement-of-arms of Miller impaling (undentified 4) and inscribed triangular wooden panel above; on E. wall, a shield-of-arms of Miller impaling (unidentified 5) in strapwork frame; remains of small kneeling figure lying loose on tomb; on N. wall, (3) to Louisa Frances Dawson Damer, 1847, and others, tablet with pedimented head and side panels with trefoiled heads, by Lester, Dorchester; in S.E. angle, (4) to Dorathy (Baylie) wife of Robart Miller, 1591, altar-tomb with cornice and plinth and wall-recess with fluted side pilasters and round moulded arch; on wall at back, two brass plates, one with kneeling figures of woman and child with inscription, second with achievement-of-arms of Miller quarterly impaling Baylie quarterly; on S. wall, (5) to Caroline, Countess of Portarlington, 1813, stone tablet similar to (1), signed J. Browne, London, 1839. In nave—on N. wall, (6) to Rev. William England, 1846, and Elizabeth (Dampier) his wife, 1874, stone tablet in Gothic frame by Osmond, Sarum. Plate: includes cup and cover-paten of 1640, and enriched cup of 1846 the gift of the Rev. G. Arden, Rector, 1847. Pulpit: of oak, part-octagonal with dentilled cornice and two heights of enriched arcaded panels, on upper panel on W. the date and initials 1624 I.M., base modern. Screen: between chancel and nave—with central doorway and seven bays on either side, moulded cornice with vine-ornament and restored painted inscription 'Let us hear the Conclusion of all things Fear God & keep his Commandments for that toucheth all men for God Judgeth all things'; side bays with linen-fold lower panels and open upper panels with modern tracery; double doors, similarly treated, 16th-century reframed and largely reconstructed with much modern work. Miscellanea: In nave—painted board with the Commandments, mid 19th-century.’

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 475 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1990, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, 114 (Serial). SDO89.

‘WINTERBORNE CAME AND PIDDLETRENTHIDE PARISH CHURCHES. Following redundancy, St. Peter’s, Winterborne Came, was vested in the Redundant Churches Fund in 1989. Repairs to the structure and the provision of a new drainage scheme are in hand. In July 1989 the boiler house, to the west of the seventeenth-century north porch, was demolished, with the intention that the pit below ground level should be filled in and the ground level reinstated. The pit is 1.25 m north-south and 1.70 m east-west. It is brick-lined: the east face has seven courses of bricks underpinning the west wall of the porch immediately below the bottom course of masonry, which has a small chamfer. The south side has an offset of 100 to 130 mm, level with the chamfer of the porch. The offset marks the beginning of the foundations of the north wall of the church which are 1.10 m deep and constructed of roughly-coursed stone blocks in mortar. The bottom 400 m of the foundation has a cement render. The pit is 1.30 m deep. …’

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1991, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1990, 123 (Serial). SDO90.

‘DECORATED FLOOR-TILE FROM WINTERBORNE CAME. During work on the parish church by the Redundant Churches Fund, a small fragment of inlaid medieval floor-tile was found. The design is similar to that found on a series of tiles from St George’s, Fordington and Milton Abbey (A. B. Emden, Medieval Decorated Tiles in Dorset (1977), designs 186, 187 and 190), but the design does not precisely match. Tiles from this late 15th- or early 16th-century series are recorded from the church and from the rectory, so this find is not unexpected (Emden, designs 71 and 196).’

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF061725 (Index). SDO14738.

ST PETERS CHURCH, WINTERBORNE CAME

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454105 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 16 2025 1:27PM