Listed Building record MDO3916 - Parish church of St Paul, Hammoon

A parish church dating back to the 12th/13th century, with much subsequent rebuilding and restoration. The church comprises a nave, chancel and south porch: the north wall of the nave dates to the late 12th/early 13th century; the south wall and the chancel are mid 13th century and the porch is 16th century. Alterations were carried out in the 15th century and the building was restored and extended in 1885. A 19th century bellcote stands at the western end of the nave.

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. PAUL stands in the N. part of the villlage. It has walls of rubble with ashlar dressings and the roofs are tiled, with stone-slate verges. The N. wall of the Nave, probably of the late 12th or early 13th century, is the only surviving part of the original church; it was aisleless certainly on the N. and it may have been a simple two-compartment building with chancel and nave both about 12 ft. wide. At an uncertain date a N. chapel was added, but this has long been demolished and only foundations survive. About the middle of the 13th century the Chancel was rebuilt on a larger scale than before, and a project to build a correspondingly larger nave was started; the S. wall of the nave was built, but the project was abandoned and the nave was left wih its original N. wall, the axis thus falling about 4 ft. S. of that of the chancel. In the 15th century the old N. wall was provided with new windows and the nave was reroofed. In 1885 the chancel arch was rebuilt and the nave was extended to the W. <3>

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1914, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, xxxix-xl (Serial). SDO23.

On arriving at Hammoon the remnants of the mediaeval village cross, consisting of the broached socket stone and a section of the shaft, were first examined. Mr. W. Fisher Crouch said that he had found the fragments in April last in a ditch, and that they had since been placed on their original site. Lord Portman had proposed to complete the shaft, and so restore the cross. At the church the visitors were received by the VICAR, the Rev. G. H. WYNNE. The fabric of the building, although considerably altered from its original condition, retains many points of interest. The oldest surviving part is the thirteenth century chancel, showing a slight inclination to the North, and there is a three-light East window, which was regarded as a good example of the same period. Canon MANSEL-PLEYDELL said that before the restoration there was a Norman arch between chancel and nave, but it had been removed by an incumbent as being "very inconvenient." The fifteenth century oak-ribbed roof of the nave was described by Mr. Doran Webb as almost perfect. Other noteworthy objects were the carved pulpit, bearing the date 1635, and an Elizabethan holder for an hour glass. There is also the socket stone of what was probably the churchyard cross, now converted into and used as a font.

Emden, A B, 1977, Medieval Decorated Tiles in Dorset (Monograph). SDO13180.

Le Pard, Gordon, 1998, Medieval sundials in Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 119, 75 (Article in serial). SDO21411.

<1> Knight, L, 1956, The Parish Church of Hammoon, Dorset (Monograph). SDO18151.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1962 (Map). SDO18658.

(ST 81781458) St. Paul's Church(NAT)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 98-99 (Monograph). SDO146.

<4> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 221 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206285 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 28 2025 3:54PM