Monument record MDO4617 - St John's church, St John's Hill, Shaftesbury

A Medieval Church; possibly with pre-conquest origins. Earliest written record is of 1272. The church was disused and demolished in the 18th century but may have initially gone out of use in the 15th century.

(ST 85802267) Site of St. John's Church (NR). <3>

St. John's Church. Mentioned in the Nona Rolls, the List of Rectors runs from 1320 to 1446. <2>

The church stood at the W. end of St. John's Hill; it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Ruined beyond memory, traces of the foundations of the church and chancel can still be seen, and the churchyard is still used for burials. <3>

The medieval church of St. John has entirely disappeared and only the churchyard survives. The site of the church is at the top of St. John's Hill. <2>

(Burial ground only shown and described). <1, 8>

The site is grass and tree covered and in the centre of a disused graveyard. No visible trace remains of the church. <4>

ST 858227. Site of St. John's Church, probably a pre-Conquest foundation in the late Saxon burgh of Shaftesbury (see ST 82 SE 56). The church was disused and demolished in the 18th century but may have initially gone out of use in the 15th century. Area now under grass. Scheduled No. 840. <6>

St. John's Church is not recorded before the 13th century (1272) but might have an earlier origin, possibly even Pre-Conquest since it lies within the probable area of the burgh. <7>

<1> Hutchins, J R, 1803, The History and Antiquities of The County of Dorset Volume 2. 2nd edition, Opp p 391 Upjohn's Plan of Shaftesbury 1799 Approx: 20" 1 mile (Monograph). SDO18013.

<2> Hutchins, J, 1868, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 3. 3rd edition, 3, 60-61 (Monograph). SDO11486.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1927-38 (Map). SWX1540.

<4> Edwards, D W, Field Investigator's Comments DE, F1 DE 27-JAN-56 (Unpublished document). SDO18341.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 76 (Monograph). SDO99.

‘(140) SITE OF ST.JOHN’S CHURCH, some 200 yds. S.E. of (80) is an uneven area of ground in the S. part of a disused churchyard, at one time a burial ground for St.James’s church, and still containing a few 18th and 19th-century monuments. St. John’s parish was united with St. James’s in 1446 and the church may already have been disused at that date. Hutchins (1st ed., II, 32) records marks of the foundations of a little church and chancel, visible in his time, but today there are no traces of a building.’

<6> Department of the Environment, Inspector of Ancient Monuments (IAM) Record Form, 17.5.77 (Scheduling record). SDO17470.

<6.1> Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, Dorset Urban Survey 1977 (K Penn) (Unpublished document). SWX999.

<7> Penn, K J, 1980, Historic Towns in Dorset, 89 (Monograph). SWX1202.

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, RCHM Mss files Chester Terr Regent's Pk London (Index). SDO14738.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206421 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 21 2025 5:10PM