Listed Building record MDO39214 - Parish Church of St Mary and St James, Hazelbury Bryan

A 15th century parish church, comprising a nave, aisles, chancel, chapel, west tower and south porch. The chancel was rebuilt in 1827 and the church was restored in 1895 and the early 20th century.

Hazelbury Bryan: The present fabric of the church which is dedicated to St Mary and St James is mostly 15th century work. It is probably the third church to be built on this site and contains a 12th century font. <2>

The church of St. Mary and St. James is in normal use. <3>

Additional references <4> <5>

Munro, J and Woolley, T G, 1959, Church of St. Mary & St. James, Hazelbury Bryan (Monograph). SDO18153.

Le Pard, Gordon, 1998, Medieval sundials in Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 119, 71 Fig 2.8, 75 (Article in serial). SDO21411.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 75310828) St. James's Church

<2> Munro, J, 1968, History of the Church of St Mary & St James Hazelbury Bryan (Unpublished document). SDO17488.

<3> Stone, J W, Field Investigators Comments JWS, F1 JWS 06-MAR-79 (Unpublished document). SDO11902.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 105-7 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘(1) THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY AND ST. JAMES (Plate 5) is in the hamlet of Droop. It has walls of roughly coursed rubble with ashlar dressings; the nave and the N. aisle are roofed with stone-slates, the chancel is tiled and the other roofs are lead-covered. The entire building, comprising Chancel, South Chapel, Nave, North and South Aisles, West Tower and South Porch, dates from the second half of the 15th century. The chancel and tower appear to have been built first and the nave and other parts subsequently, and over a number of years since the S. arcade is stylistically about twenty years later than the N. arcade. The chancel was restored in 1827 and general restorations were undertaken in 1895.
The church is a good example of 15th-century architecture with few later alterations. The roofs are original and richly decorated and some interesting mediaeval glass is preserved. (For plan, see p. 106.)
Architectural Description—The Chancel (25½ ft. by 15½ ft.) has a casement-moulded 15th-century E. window of three two-centred lights with cinquefoil cusping and vertical tracery; the two-centred head has a hood-mould with head-stops. The N. wall, largely rebuilt in ashlar in 1827, has two restored windows each of two cinquefoil-headed lights with a quatrefoil above, under a main head of shallow triangular form with casement mouldings which continue on the jambs; above are hollow-chamfered hood-moulds with square leaf stops; the rear arches are stone slabs pitched together at the apex. The S. wall of the chancel has one window uniform with those of the N. wall. Further W. is a segmental-pointed archway to the S. Chapel; it is of three orders, comprising ogee mouldings on each side of a hollow-chamfer; the ogee mouldings spring from capitals enriched with conventional foliage. On the responds, the inner ogee is carried on attached shafts while the hollow-chamfer and the outer ogee are continuous; the moulded bases have hollow-chamfered polygonal plinths. Both in the arch and in the responds the continuous hollow-chamfer is decorated at intervals on the N. side with square foliate bosses. The chancel arch, partly rebuilt in the 19th century, is two-centred and of three orders. It resembles the archway to the S. Chapel except that the inner ogee is replaced by a roll-moulding and there are no foliate bosses. The mouldings continue on the responds but they are interrupted at the springing by horizontal fillets in place of capitals. The stairs to the former rood-loft are entered through a square-headed doorway in the S. face of the S. respond and a corbelled step appears on the W. face of the respond where the vice emerges at the top.
The South Chapel (17 ft. by 9 ft.) has a three-light E. window similar to that of the chancel; the hood-mould has square stops with flower centres. The S. wall contains a two-light window uniform with those in the side walls of the chancel, and a narorw doorway with a two-centred wave-moulded head, continuous jambs and broach stops. The S. and E. walls have embattled parapets with hollow-chamfered string-courses and moulded copings; a grotesque gargoyle is set in the string-course above the E. window. A diagonal buttress of two stages with weathered offsets strengthens the S.E. corner and a similar buttress is set square against the S. wall; it marks the W. end of the chapel but there is no internal feature, except a change in floor level, to distinguish the chapel from the S. aisle. Above each buttress a grotesque gargoyle protrudes from the string-course.
The Nave (41½ ft. by 16½ ft.) is flanked on the N. by an arcade of four bays with two-centred arches of three orders (Plate 138), similar to those of the archway to the S. Chapel, described above, but without foliate bosses. The piers consist of four attached shafts alternating with hollow-chamfers; the shafts have simple moulded capitals and moulded polygonal bases; at the level of the caps each hollow-chamfer is ornamented with a foliate boss. The responds are similar half-piers but part of the E. respond has been cut away, probably to make room for a former pulpit. The S. arcade corresponds with that on the N. in spacing, but the arches are slightly lower and the mouldings, particularly those of the capitals, are coarser.
The North Aisle (41¾ ft. by 7¾ ft.) must have been built after the W. tower because the profile of the vice turret appears internally on the W. The gabled E. wall has a weathered ashlar coping with a cross finial. The 15th-century E. window is of three cinquefoil-headed lights with vertical tracery and a casement-moulded two-centred outer head with continuous jambs; the rear arch is two-centred and hollow-chamfered. The N. wall has three square-set buttresses of two weathered stages and the N.E. and N.W. corners have similar buttresses set diagonally; between the buttresses are four three-light windows, uniform with the E. window of the aisle but set at a lower level.
The South Aisle (39 ft. by 9 ft.) has a S. wall continuous with that of the S. Chapel and with a continuous string-course and parapet mouldings, and similar buttresses. Gargoyles protrude from the string-course in correspondence with the buttresses, and chamfered standards above them are probably the bases of former pinnacles. A two-light window near the E. end of the S. wall is uniform with the adjacent window in the S. Chapel. The S. doorway has a two-centred moulded head of two orders, ogee and hollow-chamfered, with continuous jambs and moulded stops, and a rear arch composed of two chamfered stones pitched together at the apex. W. of the doorway the S. wall has buttresses as before described and two two-centred two-light windows with cinquefoil cusping and vertical tracery; the heads and continuous jambs are casement-moulded.
The West Tower (11 ft. by 14 ft.) is of rubble with occasional courses of roughly squared stone; it has four external stages between the moulded and chamfered plinth and the embattled parapet. Each stage is marked by a weathered string-course and a slight recession of the wall-face. Five-stage diagonal ashlar buttresses with weathered offsets strengthen the N.W. and S.W. corners, a similar buttress is set square at the E. end of the S. side and the N.E. corner is strengthened by the vice turret, which has three principal stages. The embattled parapet has a continuous moulded coping and a pinnacle with a crocketed finial at each corner; the vice turret stands a little higher than the main parapet and has similar terminal features. The tower arch is two-centred, with a panelled soffit and continuous jambs; the trefoil-headed panels are set in pairs, in four heights. The vice doorway has a chamfered four-centred head and continuous jambs. The W. doorway has a two-centred head with three orders of mouldings and continuous jambs; it is surmounted by a square label and the spandrels between the arch and the label have trefoil panels. Above, the two-centred W. window is of four cinquefoil ogee-headed lights with vertical tracery; the hood-mould is an extension of the lower string-course. In the lower stage the external face of the S. wall is decorated with a small niche, rectangular in plan, with an ogee canopied head flanked by crocketed finials. In the second stage two similar niches occur on either side of the W. window head. In the third stage is a square-headed N. window of two pointed lights with trefoil cusping. The fourth stage has in each face a casementmoulded belfry window of two transomed and trefoil-headed lights with a quatrefoil under a two-centred head with a hood-mould. The lights below the transoms are blocked with stone panels; those above are louvred.
The South Porch (8½ ft. by 8 ft.) has a string-course and an embattled parapet resembling those of the S. aisle but at a lower level; the string-course has a gargoyle at each corner. The porch entry has a two-centred arch with double ogee mouldings, continuous jambs and run-out stops; the hollow-chamfered label terminates in square stops with flower centres.
Roofs. The Chancel has a plaster barrel-vault of the 19th century divided into panels by moulded transverse and longitudinal ribs. At the springing are heavily-moulded wall-plates, and the intersections of the cross-ribs with the wall-plates are masked by painted shields, some with heraldic emblems, others with initials and one dated 1827. The Nave has a 15th-century wagon roof, four-centred in cross-section; the transverse members which were originally intended to be visible are moulded, and they are intersected by moulded longitudinal members to form panels; the panels must originally have been plastered but the plaster has now been removed to expose the intermediate timbers. The intersections of the moulded members are decorated with leaf-bosses. The transverse members spring from wall-plates with mouldings in two orders, decorated with carved bosses. The roof of the N. Aisle is of the same date and type as that of the Nave but narrower and more steeply pitched; blank shields decorate the wall-plates at the springing of the moulded transverse members. The S. Aisle and the S. Chapel have a continuous flat roof of twelve bays defined by heavily moulded transverse beams with slightly raised centres; the beams are intersected by a moulded longitudinal member and they rest on moulded wall-plates, thus forming square coffer-like panels (Plate 21); the panels are spanned alternately by joists set E.-W. and N.-S. Carved wooden leaf-bosses at the junctions of the main members are perhaps not original. The Porch has a similar roof of four panels with no bosses.
Fittings—Bells: six; 2nd inscribed 'Feare God IW 1613'; 3rd inscribed 'Ave gracia [pl]ena' in Lombardic letters, c. 1400; 4th inscribed 'Sancte Andrea' in floreated Lombardic letters, c. 1400; 5th inscribed 'Remember thy end IW 1613'; others modern. Benefactors' Tables: In S. aisle, on W. wall, endowment record, 1709. In porch, endowment record, 1843; adjacent, matching table of kindred and affinity. Brackets: In chancel, below piscina, moulded polygonal stone bracket with angel head retaining traces of red pigment, 15th century. In nave, on E. respond of S. arcade, stone head-corbel with flat top, with traces of pigment, 15th century. Chest: of oak, with panelled front and sides, enriched styles and rails, 17th century. Coffin-stools: two, of oak, with square legs, 18th century. Doors: In S. doorway, of oak, with vertical external planks and internal battens, wrought iron strap-hinges, ring-handle, escutcheon-plate and lock, probably all 15th century; in tower vice doorway, with original planks and hinges, 15th century; in W. doorway, dated 1827. Font: of Purbeck marble; octagonal bowl decorated on each face with two shallow round-headed panels and with chamfered lower edge, cylindrical pedestal surrounded by eight smaller shafts on chamfered octagonal base, late 12th century. Font cover of oak, octagonal, with fretted cornice and tent-shaped head, 18th century, formerly part of pulpit sounding-board (see old photograph in church).
Glass: In chancel, in tracery of E. window, centre quatrefoil with blue Tudor rose with yellow rays, N. trefoil with shield-of-arms quarterly of Montagu and Monthermer, S. trefoil with shield-of-arms paly of Bryan and Bures; in lower tracery lights, in N. spandrel, leaf pattern, in adjacent cinquefoil, winged seraph in silver-stain, in next three cinquefoils, reset Tudor roses and sun, in S. spandrel, plain blue glass, all 15th or 16th century; in S. window, quatrefoil with leaf patterns and, in place of central roundel, fragment of glass with lettering, 15th century. In S. chapel, in E. window, tracery lozenge with fragment depicting tonsured head, 15th century; in centre light, reset fragment of canopy. In N. aisle, in E. window, in centre quatrefoil, inverted yellow and white crown; in two trefoil-headed tracery lights, lion and eagle symbols of Evangelists, each named on scroll; below, in two lights, fragments of crocketed canopies. In N. side of N. aisle, in easternmost window, rose in top quatrefoil and seraphs in three of four tracery lights (Plate 139, b), fragments of canopies in cinquefoil heads of main lights below; in second window, rose in top quatrefoil and angel bearing shield with monogram in each tracery light (Plate 139, a, c and f), also fragments of canopies below; in third window, angels holding shields with monograms and emblems in three tracery lights (Plate 139, d and e), also fragments of canopies below; in fourth window, small fragments; all 15th century. In tower, in W. window, another mediaeval fragment. Inscriptions: On plinth on S. face of tower, 'W.P. 1739'.
Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: In chancel, on N. wall, (1) of Francis Reed, rector, 1821, marble tablet with arms, by Gray of Weymouth. In churchyard, against S.E. buttress of S. Chapel, (2) of Nicholas Kellaway, 1714, headstone with cherubs' heads (Plate 32); S. of S. porch, (3) of Mary Strange, 1840, 17th-century table-tomb reused. Floor-slabs: In nave, W. of chancel step, (1) of Richard Hill, 1764; adjacent, (2), (3) and (4) of Eliz. Woodrow, Elizabeth Hill Woodrow and . . . Woodrow, three worn 18th and 19th-century Purbeck slabs forming pavement; further W., (5) illegible, 1696, similar slab. Niches: In porch, on E. wall, (1) shallow niche with chamfered trefoil head; to E. of doorway to S. aisle, (2) roughly scooped round-headed niche. In N. aisle, in N.E. corner, (3) and (4), with shafted jambs, rib-vaulted canopies with rich crocketed cresting and angel-brackets, 15th century; on N. wall, (5) large reset niche, perhaps originally sedile, with grotesque-headed corbel, banded lateral shafts with crocketed finials, and ogee canopy with cusping and crockets; canopy flanked by quatrefoil spandrels with flower centres and surmounted by tall finial prolonged beyond square outer head, 15th century; niche now used as setting for modern sculpture. On S. and W. faces of W. tower, see Architectural Description. Paintings: On S. wall of nave, texts in two panels, that to E. with angel supporters; late 16th or early 17th century. Piscinae: In chancel, on S. side, lower part of piscina comprising bowl with central outlet and chamfered jambs of niche with broach-stops, 15th century; head of niche formed from fragment of window tracery, 14th century. In S. chapel, on S. wall, with chamfered round head and cutback basin. Plate: includes silver cup with hallmark and inscription of 1630, paten of 1813, and candlesticks, pair, silver-plated, late 18th century. Pulpit: of oak, octagonal, inscribed 'Ben Lidford 1782', with later pedestal and stairs; above, sounding-board with inlaid soffit and fretted cornice, suspended by chain from nave roof, 18th century; for former head to sounding-board see font-cover. Royal Arms: At W. end of N. aisle, square panel painted with arms of Queen Anne, superscribed G.R. 1715. Sundials: On tower, on third stage of S.W. buttress, inserted rectangular stone slab with iron gnomon, 18th century. Miscellanea: Reset at N.E. and S.E. corners of S. chapel, two capitals, one with crowned monogram 'S T' in deeply undercut foliage surmounted by a moulded abacus (Plate 16), the other with foliage only, 14th century.’

<5> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 226 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 201772 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 1 2025 12:04PM