Listed Building record MDO30144 - Parish church of St Mary, Batcombe

A church built in the second half of the 15th century, and restored in 1864. The building has walls of stone rubble and flint with stone dressings, and a tiled roof.

(ST 6185 0386) Church of St Mary. (NAT). (1)

Parish church of St Mary. C15th nave and west tower. North porch added, and chancel rebuilt 1864 by the architect John Hicks. Grade I. (2-4)

There is a fragment of Early Mediaeval carved sTone set in the middle of the second buttress on the South side of the chancel. It is decorated with a pattern A type knot. Probably 8th-9th century.

A second fragment decorated with a possible plant-scroll is set into the East side of the porch on the North wall. This is also possibly 8th-9th century. (5)

Notes on St. Mary and Parish of Batcombe (Monograph). SDO18227.

2010, The church of St. Mary Magdalene, Batcombe (Monograph). SDO18228.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 16 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(1) PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY stands in the S. part of the parish. The walls are of local rubble and flint with freestone dressings; the roofs are tiled. The West Tower was built in the first half of the 15th century and the Nave and Chancel were rebuilt shortly after. The church was restored in 1864 when the chancel was rebuilt, except the chancel-arch, and the North Porch was added.
The church is of no great architectural interest, but among the fittings the font, the stone rood-screen and the pre-Conquest fragment are noteworthy.
Architectural Description—The Chancel (16½ ft. by 13½ ft.) is modern except for the 15th-century chancel-arch; this is moulded and two-centred; the splayed responds have been cut back for the late 15th-century stone screen.
The Nave (34¾ by 15½ ft.) has, in the N. wall, a 15th-century window of three cinque-foiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with moulded and shafted reveals and label with head-stops; the 15th-century N. doorway has chamfered jambs and two-centred head. In the S. wall are two windows similar to that in the N. wall but the eastern window has no label; the S. doorway is uniform with the N. doorway.
The West Tower (9 ft. square) is of early 15th-century date and of three stages with an embattled parapet with pinnacles and gargoyles at the angles. The two-centred tower-arch is moulded and springs from moulded and shafted responds; the reveals and soffit have a single row of sunk panels with pointed heads. The W. window is of three cinque-foiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with moulded reveals and label; the W. doorway has moulded jambs and two-centred arch in a square head with a label and head-stops of a king and a bishop. The second stage has a N. window of one pointed light in a square head with moulded reveals. The bell-chamber has, in each wall, a window of two trefoiled lights with a cusped panel in a two-centred head, with moulded reveals and label; the panels enclose either shields, a rose or the initials I.C.; the lights are partly filled with slabs having quatrefoils or pierced trellis work.
The Roof of the chancel is modern but incorporates some 15th-century timbers. The partly restored 15th-century roof of the nave is of collar-beam type with curved braces forming four-centred arches; the moulded principals and purlins have carved foliage-bosses at their intersections; the moulded plates have carved paterae and rest on stone cornices.
Fittings—Bells: three; 1st broken and not hung, probably c.1400 and inscribed "Sta Maria Magdalene"; 2nd by William Warre of Yetminster, 1592; 3rd probably by Bilbie and of the second half of the 18th century. Bell-frame old. Font (Plate 14): Roughly circular bowl, in the form of a mortar, with four strips of cable-ornament with lugs at top, forming angular projections, and having incised circles between them, 12th-century or earlier, square stem with chamfered angles and capital carved with crude volutes at the angles, probably 12th-century. Monuments: In nave— on N. wall, (1) to George Harris, 1804, Ann his mother, 1810, and John her husband, 1826, sarcophagus-shaped wall-tablet of white marble by E. Gaffin, Regent St., London. In tower—on N. wall, (2) to John Minterne, 1592, plain stone tablet; (3) to John Palmer, rector, 1702–3, stone tablet with double carved frame; (4) to Thomas Beazer, rector, 1734, slate wall-tablet with rounded top and skull-and-crossbones; on S. wall, (5) to Frances (Minterne), wife of Andrew Buckler, 1648, painted freestone tablet with Corinthian side-columns, entablature, apron, cresting and shield-of-arms; (6) to John Minterne, 1705, Eleanor his wife, 1716–7, and Ruth their daughter, 1685, stone tablet with scrolls. In churchyard—N. of chancel, (7) part of 16th-century table-tomb, with heavy top slab, and a quatre-foiled side-panel enclosing a shield, probably reused; (8) to Francis Stount, 1685, and Sarah his daughter, 1685–6, table-tomb; N. of nave, (9) to Paul Slade, 1811, and Paul Slade Dunning, 1814, table-tomb with fluted angle-pilasters and blank shields. Piscina: reset in chancel—pillar-piscina with moulded base and cushion-capital with drain, 12th-century; above it, recess with two-centred head, 13th or 14th-century. Screen (Plate 34): Under chancel-arch—of stone and of four bays and a central doorway, solid base and moulded and embattled cornice; doorway with four-centred arch and two cinque-foiled lights above it; side-bays each with two similar lights, late 15th-century, considerably restored. Seating: In chancel—two coffin-stools, with turned legs, 17th-century. Stoup: In nave—in N. wall E. of doorway, recess with pointed arch and oval bowl, probably 15th-century. Miscellanea: Incorporated in middle S. buttress of chancel—fragment (Plate 6) of stone 5 ½ 4½ in. with pre-Conquest interlacement.’

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 84 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1979 (Map). SWX1197.

(ST 6185 0386) Church of St Mary. (NAT)

<4> Department of the Environment, 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: District of West Dorset (Parishes of Batcombe, Cattistock, Cerne Abbas, Frome St Quinton, Hooke, Rampisham, Sydling St Nicholas and Wraxall), 3 (Scheduling record). SDO16377.

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

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 8872681 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 4 2022 3:14PM