Listed Building record MDO31568 - Parish church of St Michael and All Angels, Rampisham

A parish church partly rebuilt in 1847 and 1860. The tower is older, thought to have been built in the early fourteenth century, and made taller in the fifteenth century. The walls of the building are of local stone rubble with freestone dressings, and it has a slate roof.

(ST 56150220) St Michael and All Saints Church [NAT]. (1)

Church of St Michael and All Saints. The base of the South tower is C14th, and it was heightend in the C15th. The chancel was rebuilt by Pugin in 1845-7, while the nave, aisle and North porch were rebuilt by Hicks in 1859 in Decorated style.
Grade I. (2-4)

1981, St Michael & All Angels Church, Rampisham (Monograph). SDO18214.

2000, A guide to St. Michael & All Angels Church, Rampisham, Dorset (Monograph). SDO18215.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 191-192 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(2) PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS stands on the E. side of the parish. The walls are of local rubble with freestone dressings; the roofs are covered with lead and slates. The South Tower was built probably early in the 14th century and heightened in the 15th century. The rest of the church was rebuilt partly in 1847 and partly in 1860.

Architectural Description—The South Tower (11 ft. square) is of three storeys, the two lower of early 14th-century date and the top storey of the 15th century with an embattled parapet, pinnacles and gargoyles and a 15th-century stair-turret. The ground stage has a N. tower-arch, two-centred and of two chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner dying on to the responds. In the E. wall is a squint with a square head and now blocked; further S. is a blocked doorway with chamfered jambs and two-centred head. In the S. wall is a window of three cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with moulded reveals. In the W. wall is a modern doorway. The second storey has in the N., S. and W. walls a window of one pointed light; a former window in the E. wall has been replaced by a modern doorway. The bell-chamber has, in each wall, a window of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head with moulded reveals; those on the S. and W. have been partly restored; the lights are filled with stone grilles of pierced quatrefoils.

Fittings—Bells: five; 1st, 15th-century, Reading foundry, inscribed "Maria"; 2nd by William Warre, 1600; 3rd, early 16th-century, from the Salisbury foundry and inscribed "Sancta Maria"; 4th by William Purdue I, 1615; 5th uninscribed. Brass: In nave—to Thomas Dygenys, 1523, and Isabell his wife, 1523–4, benefactors to the church, figure of man in civil dress and woman with pedimental head-dress. Churchyard Cross (Plate 85): square base set on octagonal pedestal with angular projections forming a square, inscribed plinth and two octagonal steps; each free face of pedestal panelled and containing figure-subjects as follows:—on N.W. probably the Martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury, two armed knights on side-piers; on N.E. a martyrdom or perhaps an Entombment, seated figures of a king and a monk on side-piers; on S.E. figure-subject with two (or perhaps three) carved standing figures and one kneeling figure, seated king and monk on side-piers; on S.W. two crowned figures at table, small figure in front, on the side piers a figure with scroll and a bird on a pedestal; on splayed plinth, a black-letter inscription reading "Ihu Xpe Fili Dei misere mei Et sic dicit Porter in nomine Ihu (fieri fecit ?) I(draton ?)", base of shaft much worn, with remains of letters; late 15th or early 16th-century. Monuments: In churchyard—N. of chancel, (1) to Frances Warren, 1633, and to Mary, wife of Edward Warren, table-tomb; adjoining cross on E., (2) table-tomb said to have borne the date 1606. Niches: In E. wall of tower, three with trefoiled heads and corbelled brackets, two carved with foliage and one with a bull, 15th-century. Piscina: In tower—in S. wall, recess with trefoiled ogee head and plain drain, probably 14th-century. Plate: includes a silver-gilt cup of 1847 with enamel ornament and a plain paten. Seating: In tower—coffin-stool with turned legs, 17th-century.’

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 356 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1977 (Map). SWX1197.

(ST 56150220) St Michael and All Saints Church [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), 62 (Scheduling record). SDO16377.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 882486 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 17 2025 9:36AM