Listed Building record MDO4558 - Parish church of St Peter, Pimperne

Rebuilt in 1870, except for the west tower which is of the mid 15th century. The twelfth century chancel arch and south doorway are reset in the present church. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

The parish church of St. Peter was wholly rebuilt in 1870, except for the west tower which is mid 15th century. Reset in the present church are the 12th century chancel arch and south doorway from the earlier church. <3>

Additional bibliography. <4>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1918, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 108 (Serial). SDO27.

<2> DOE (HHR), 1954, List of Buildings of Special Historic or Architectural Interest: Blandford Rural District (Scheduling record). SDO17701.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 52-53 (Monograph). SDO99.

‘(1) THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. PETER, near the N.W. end of the village, was wholly rebuilt in 1870 (Dorset Procs., XXXIX (1918), 108), except for the West Tower which is of the mid 15th century. Reset in the present church are the 12th-century chancel arch and south doorway from the earlier church.
Architectural Description. The former Chancel Arch (Plate 51) stands on the N. of the present chancel. It is two-centred and on the S. side it is of two orders, the inner order plain, the outer order with roll-moulded chevron decoration on fascia and intrados; the N. side is plain. In the outer order the voussoirs are alternately of Greensand and white limestone, the latter probably from Todber. In the responds, the inner order has large half-shafts and the outer order has three-quarter shafts of smaller diameter; the shafts and their bases, with hold-water mouldings, are of the 19th century; the scalloped capitals (Plate 9) with scroll-work, leaf decoration and bands of pellets are original; the hollow-chamfered abaci are restored. The Doorway (Plate 51), now at the W. end of the S. aisle, was formerly in the S. wall of the nave (Hutchins I, 293). It has a semicircular outer head of one order with chevron mouldings similar to those of the chancel arch, and a hood-mould with lozenge decoration; below is a tympanum shaped to form a segmental arch and highly enriched with chevron ornament and leaf-work (cf. Dorset III, xlvii). The responds have three-quarter shafts with scalloped capitals with leaf enrichment; the capitals are original, but shafts, bases and abaci are of the 19th century. Hutchins's engraving (I, 294) shows bases different from those now seen.
The West Tower has a high chamfered and hollow-chamfered plinth and is in three stages defined by hollow-chamfered string-courses; the parapet, gargoyles and pinnacles are of 1870. The western corners have three-stage diagonal buttresses with weathered offsets; a similar diagonal buttress occurs on the N. side near the N.E. corner; in a corresponding position on the S. side is an octagonal vice turret of 1870. The tower arch is two-centred and of three hollow-chamfered orders; the outer order dies into chamfered responds and the inner orders spring from angel corbels. The west window has three trefoil-headed lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head under a roll-moulded label with head-stops; the label is perhaps earlier than the 15th-century window, and reset. In the second stage, the S. side of the tower has a window of two trefoil-headed lights with a quatrefoil tracery light in a two-centred head under a hollow-chamfered label. In the third stage, each side of the tower has a belfry window of two lights with blind trefoil heads and blind vertical tracery in a two-centred outer head without a label.
Fittings—Bells: five; 4th inscribed 'William Pitt, George Selby, R.L. 1703'; tenor recast in 1846 with former inscription 'Glory be to God on high' in Lombardic letters; others 1891. Benefactor's Table: of wood, with gilt lettering recording Charity of George Ryves, 1685, below triangular finial with cartouche painted with arms of Ryves; 1846. Brass: In vestry, reset on W. wall, panel 1½ ft. square (Plate 14) with inscription commemorating Dorothy Williams, 1694, with representation of soul rising from death-bed, engraved by Edmund Culpeper. Chair: of oak, with fretted back and shaped top, 18th century. Chest: of oak, heavily bound with iron, with two hasps and staples for lock-bar, and central lock with scroll-sided escutcheon plate, 17th century. Door: in W. doorway, of oak, dated 1847. Font: of stone (Plate 11) with round bowl enriched with foliate scroll-work and pellet banding on tapering cylindrical stem with moulded base, with masks in spandrels; bowl 12th century, restored in 19th century; stem and base probably 19th century. Font-cover, of stone, tent-shaped, with pierced spandrels and pellet-enriched ribbing; 19th century (Hutchins I, 293).
Monument and Floor-slab. Monument: In vestry, of Dorothy Williams, 1694, see Brass. Floor-slab: reset at top of tower vice, Purbeck marble floor-slab of William M[artin, 1608 ?], (Hutchins I, 295). Niche: In S.E. side of lower stage of S.W. tower buttress, with chamfered four-centred head; mediaeval. Plate: includes Elizabethan silver cup by Lawrence Stratford of Dorchester, without inscription or date-letters; in 1849 it was recorded that the church 'possesses no sacramental plate whatever, except a chalice presented by the present curate' (Ecclesiologist, X (1849), 255).’

<4> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 315-6 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<5> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1976 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 90370941) St. Peter's Church (NAT)

<6> Manley, H P, 2007, Proposed New Community Building: St Peter's Church, Pimperne, Dorset - Evaluation. Interim Report. (Unpublished document). SDO10643.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209413 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 17 2025 9:08AM