Listed Building record MDO5147 - Parish church of St Mary, Tarrant Rushton

Probably early twelfth nave and chancel arch, extended westward in later twelfth century. Significant modifications and additiuons in the fourteenth- and fifteenth centuries, with a modern vestry. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

St Mary's Church. A lintel above the south door is carved with the Agnus Dei, a man with a cloak and a man with a bird. Prof. Zarrechi assigns it to the C12th, comparing it with Doglingworth in Gloucestershire, though much coarser. <2>

The Agnus Dei sculpture probably dates to 1115-30. List of Comparisons. <4>



Hutchins (1861) notes that the church was rebuilt in 1853 (Architect, Mr T H Wyatt) and that portions of the N. aisle appear to be older and may possibly be remnants of the former church. The interior of the present church is entirely destitute of tablets, or memorials of any kind whatever. There is no single record of former days. Hutchins also says: there is a statement by Mr Sidney Heath, in his Pilgrim Life, in the Middle Ages to the effect that "Mr. H. Moule, of Dorchester, told the present writer that he had seen in the chancel of the old church of Tarrant Keynston a recluse cell of the type now mentioned, and that it remained intact until the church was rebuilt." (vide p. 88). None of the old villagers, however, are able to confirm this statement.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1898, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1897, 55-65 (Serial). SDO11.

Tarrant Rushton Church.
By Rev. J. PENNY.
(Read August 13th, 1856.)
I Propose to take as the basis of my paper on this Church a portion of the return which I made some years ago to the Rural Dean, and then with your permission to add some remarks on one or two points.
The Church consists of chancel, nave, and north and south transepts, forming a Greek-cross, 50 feet long from east to west, and 45 from north to south. The chancel arch is Norman or Romanesque, very plain and massive. The mouldings at the springing of the arch appear to have been removed. It is considered by competent judges to have been built before the Conquest, certainly not later than 1150. In the east face of the wall, just above the head of the arch and equidistant from the centre, are two so-called " acoustic vases," about which I shall speak later on. There can be no doubt that they were inserted when the wall was built. The north transept belongs to the Early English period, and may probably be dated from 1220 to 1270. In the west wall there is a lancet window, reaching so near to the ground as to suggest the thought that it may have been intended for the same purpose as the ordinary leper windows, especially as there was a leper hospital St. Leonard's a few yards beyond it, and the door by its side has within the memory of some been called " The Leper's Gate." The north window is Early English.
The rest of the Church belongs to the Decorated Period, its probable date being about 1370. The heads of the three principal windows, E., S., and W., are of the reticulated pattern, the top of that in the south transept being boldly cut off, as the window was placed so high that there was not quite room enough for the whole.
In the chancel on the south side is the ordinary leper window of one light or lychnoscope, as it is sometimes called. There are two similar windows, each of two lights, facing one another, one on the north, the other on the south side, and a three-light window in the east, all belonging to the same order. The last window was placed a little way from the middle of the wall and towards the south to make room for a beautiful niche, which is figured in Barr's "Anglican Church Architecture" (J. H. Parker), and is stated to be an excellent model of the Decorated character. The moulding round the head ends in the characteristic ball-flower. In the south wall there is an elegant piscina. When the Church was restored in the time of the Decorated Period, the jambs of the Norman chancel arch were pierced and traceried hagioscopes inserted. A squint was also made from the north transept, having a grille of elegant design. There are traces in the middle of the archway above the springing of the arch of a rod, around which was probably rolled "the blacke cloth" used "at the sacring of the mass," such as that mentioned in the History of the Church of St. Lawrence, Reading. There is a square hole about the middle of the wall, opening eastward, in connection with this rod. In the east wall of each of the transepts there is a square-headed three-light window, which may belong to the Perpendicular Period. The mullions are hollowed, those of all the other windows being simply chamfered or bevelled. Above these two windows on the outside there are labels, that on the north ending in grotesque animal heads, that on the south in a mitred and a crowned head.
Over the south door is a very old rudely-sculptured slab. The centre figure is a lamb bearing a cross, with something of a serpentine form proceeding from the mouth. On the right is the figure of a man with uplifted right hand, as though teaching or blessing, and an open book in the left hand. On the left is another human figure with a bird in the right hand and a closed book under the left arm. Both these figures are seated.
The stoup is at the right hand side on entering the door, on the outside, under the porch. On the south side of the west face of the chancel arch above the pulpit is a perfect corbel, and in the corresponding place on the north the sunk portion of another corbel. On these there probably rested a beam for the support of the rood. There is also a corbel or stone bracket in the south transept, on which the image of the patron saint, St. Mary, may have been placed. The windows, arches, and three hagioscopes are originals, with the exception of the east chancel window, the two-light south chancel window and that in the east wall of the south transept. These have been restored, but only in those parts which absolutely required to be renewed, and there has been no departure from the original patterns. In cleaning the porch a corbel was brought to light and two openings in the wall, apparently for joists, from which I should infer that there was once a bell chamber over the porch, as at Rawston. There is one bell to the church, with the inscription "William Baines, Richard Arner, Churchwardens, 1675, R.F." (The initials R.F. are those of R. Flower, or Flowry, bell founder, of Salisbury.) The walls at the west end appear to have been raised after the completion of the nave to form a belfry. They were not strong enough to bear the swinging of a bell, not having been originally intended for anything of the kind, and as a consequence the west wall even recently exhibited several serious cracks. In 1874 a considerable sum was expended on the roof and other parts of the church. A gallery at the west end was removed, and as the eastern face of the bell chamber had been formed by timber only, resting on a beam, this was replaced by a wall built on an arch, which, whilst it adds to the stability of the building, may be considered by some to be not altogether in keeping with the architectural character of the church generally. When I became Rector in 1877 the church was almost entirely covered with plaster, probably several hundred years old, which had been again and again whitewashed or coloured in one uniform tint. Portions of the walls were in a ruinous state as well as the whitewashed semi-circular ceiling of the nave and transepts. The plaster has now been removed, and the walls of green sandstone, ironstone and flint pointed. The roof of the north transept has been restored to its old appearance, the principals, purlins, and circular braces having, on examination, proved to be perfectly sound ; whilst in the nave and south transept there is an independent ceiling of wood. The leper-door in the north transept had been blocked up. This has been opened and now forms the inner entrance to a vestry, which has been built on the outside in a style suited to the church. The work was spread over nine years and was completed shortly before the celebration of Her Majesty's Jubilee. In consequence of the dampness of the chancel before the earth was removed from the foundations on the outside, and especially as the two-light south window was entirely, and the leper window partly, blocked up, a former Rector raised the level of the floor. This has had the effect of dwarfing the chancel arch. For many years there were two slabs of Purbeck marble forming the pavement at the south entrance outside the porch. One of these having an incised cross given roughly in Hutchins' History of Dorset had originally been the cover of a tomb. The pattern of the cross exactly resembles one in relief placed over one of the last Abbots in Tewkesbury Abbey. This is now in the churchyard wall opposite to the south door. The other slab either belonged to an altar-tomb or, as some think, was the stone altar of the church, ordered to be removed at the Reformation. Whatever may have been its original use, it has some interesting points which have exercised the ingenuity of antiquaries. It is now placed against the wall in the vestry. In removing the plaster, the capital of the old Norman piscina was found under the existing piscina, forming a basin to it. This is at present on one of the window sills in the chancel. On the opposite sill is a piece of Purbeck marble with a portion of a cross in relief in good condition. The slab of which it formed part evidently belonged to a tomb, and was probably broken in pieces for building purposes. It was found imbedded in the wall under the west window, and I am inclined to think that there may be other portions in different parts of the west end. On the outside there are two stones marked for sun-dials one under the south transept window, the other forming a part of the south door jamb. There is a small coffin cover under the south window of the bell chamber, and to the right, a little below, a rude cross built into the wall.
So much for the description of the church. There are some points in it which demand more than a passing notice.
I spoke of the two earthenware vessels in the eastern face of the chancel arch wall as acoustic vases. It is well known to archaeologists that there has been many a battle fought over this subject. When they were first exposed to view my first thought was that they might contain relics or a portion of the remains of some distinguished persons, but having read all on the subject on which I could lay my hands I have long since abandoned the idea. One thing is certain that in various parts of Europe, certainly in France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, and especially England, earthen jars, many of them of a domestic character, are found imbedded in the walls or placed under the floor of churches.
At Fountain's Abbey, in 1854, they were found at the base of the choir screen. At St. Peter's, Mancroft, Norwich, in 1850, under the part occupied by the choir stalls were found two rows of red earthen jars, 26 in number, opening towards one another into the space between them. Ten years later a similar discovery was made at St. Peter's, Mountergate. At St. Peter's, Upton, in the County of Lincoln, in 1863, there were found in the chancel walls of the Decorated Period three on each side, at intervals of about 6ft. and 7ft. or 8ft. above the floor ; whilst at St. Nicholas, Ipswich, in 1848, vessels were met with under the roof, and at East Harling, in 1873, in the alternate spaces between the short timber uprights. In every case they were lying on their sides, with their mouths towards the interior.
There have been all kinds of conjectures as to their purpose some as ridiculous as they could well be but I am more than disposed to acquiesce in the opinion of one of the best writers on the subject, the Rev. G. W. W. Minns, that they were supposed to enrich the voice. Whether they did so or not is quite another matter. There is a passage in a manuscript of the 15th century containing the Chronicles of the Celestins of Metz, on which reliance is especially placed for the opinion. It is as follows :- "In the month of August, 1432, on the vigil of the Assumption, after Brother Odo le Roy, the Prior, had returned from a general chapter, it was ordered that pots should be put into the choir of the Church of Ceans, he stating that he had seen such in another church, and that he thought they made the singing better and resound more strongly." It is only right to add that the Chronicler goes on to ridicule the Prior with some pleasantry for what he had done, and a later hand wrote on the margin " Ecce risu digna." Dr. Codrington, who worked with Bishop Selwyn in Melanesia, visited Rushton Church in October, 1891, with our Rural Dean, and being interested in what he had seen wrote to a well-known antiquary, Sir Henry Dryden, on the subject, who agreed with the writer of the marginal note and said, briefly but expressively, " The idea is all nonsense." I turn, however, to Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, and there under the word TJX^OV (you will recognise in it the familiar word " Echo ") after its common meaning, viz., a kind of loud drum or gong, it is stated that vessels of like kind were let into the walls of theatres to strengthen the sound or to imitate the noise of thunder. And this was done in both Greece and Italy,
But to come nearer home. In the Churchwardens' Accounts of Wimborne Minster for 1541, as given in Hutchins, is the following entry :- " Payd for 2 potts of cley for wyndfyllyng of the Chyrch, 8d."
The so-called leper window. The object of this is also a matter of dispute. Barr says of the small low window frequently found on the south side of the chancel, at about the height for a man to look through, that it is supposed to have been for watching the light in the Easter sepulchre. This may have been one of its uses ; but was it the only one ? Others regard it as the place where doles were given or where at the burial of the dead the service was begun, or as an external confessional. In this Church we have not only the low window in its usual place, but also in the north transept a lancet window, unusually low, and as the Hospital of St. Leonard was only a few yards off it gives some colour to the opinion that lepers were not admitted within a church, and that it was at such a window that they took part in the service.* I am inclined to think that the north transept was the chantry of the hospital. Certainly it has its separate entrance, which immediately faced the hospital, and it was formerly from one to two feet below the level of the nave.
It may not be without interest to some to hear of a bequest to Rushton Church by George Lovelly, probably Lovell, who died in 1639. These are the words of his will " I give unto the Church of Rushton 20s., which I desire my successors to bestow in a silver plate to put the bread in at the Communion table, that the clerk, i.e., the clergyman, may not carry it about in his bare hand after the consecration." I am sorry that we no longer possess that paten our present one bears date 1756. The date on the Rawston Church plate is 1639. It was given by Katherine, widow of Arthur Radford (a younger son of the Radfords, of Mount Radford, near Exeter), and daughter of Thomas Uvedale, of Horton. May not George Lovell's bequest, and especially the reason assigned for it, have suggested a similar gift to the neighbouring Church 1
But for interest, perhaps, there is nothing in the Church to be compared with the slab, or lintel, over the south door. It is probably the oldest thing in the Church, and it has been considered that the 10th century is not too early a date to assign to it. As a piece of sculpture, it is as rude as it could well be, and yet the work is as sharp to-day as when it came from the craftsman's hand. There are three figures, the central one of which is the Lamb bearing the Cross, or the Agnus Dei. For some years I was asked again and again, but all in vain, for the meaning of the scroll-like form issuing from the Lamb's mouth. Was it by a confusion of metaphor a serpent ? Or was it a sort of label, such as one sometimes sees in old prints, in which are enclosed the words that are supposed to be uttered 1 Or what ? Fortunately, I had lent to me, not, however, with reference to this point, a paper of Dr. Baron's on Stockton Church. It opens with an account of the restoration, of what, for want of a better name, has been called " a horizontal vesica piscis "over the middle and tallest of the three lancet lights of the east window in that Church. He says of it " This is, alas ! only a shadow of the past, for the window was restored in 1840 ; but we have a trustworthy record that the new window was intended to be a careful reproduction of the old one. The very peculiarity of this feature nearly caused its destruction at the beginning of the recent restoration of the Church. Who ever heard of such a thing as ' a horizontal vesica piscis ? It could not be original. I pointed out, in the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold, a ' vesica piscis leaning to the right, although usually represented vertical in the same tenth century MS., and pleaded that if the oval pointed figure, called by Albert Durer ' vesica piscis,' has any relation to the early
Christian symbol 1x9"*, a fish, it was only natural that this rude outline of a fish, as some assert it to be, should occasionally be shown in a horizontal the usual swimming position. All this might have been in vain if I had not been enabled, by the suggestion of a kind and valued friend, the Rev. C. F. Saxby, to refer to a passage in Archaeologia Cantiana, where a 'horizontal vesica piscis,' in combination with round arches, is figured and described as unique. This settled the question as to a ' horizontal vesica piscis being a genuine feature of Early English architecture, but I should be much interested by hearing of other examples."*
On reading this, I at once thought of what had puzzled me and others so long, and hastening to look in the light which Dr. Baron had thrown on it, there I saw the " horizontal fish," and there could be no doubt about it. The Lamb is uttering His own Great Name 'Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour.
But what about the other two figures ? It is wonderful when the reins are given to the imagination what a variety of directions it may take, especially in different persons, and with what curious results. May I illustrate this in the case of our lintel ? For myself, as I knew that in Norman Churches the tympanum over the door commonly refers to some incident in the life of our Lord, or to something in the history of the patron saint, I was disposed to regard the figure towards the east as representing Our Lord in the act of teaching or blessing ; and as the Lamb and the Dove are two great emblems in the Gospel, the third figure is again probably Our Lord, the Giver of the First-fruits of the Spirit. ; But now for other views. Hutchins considered the three figures to represent the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity an opinion to which I am entirely opposed and the last editors of Hutchins reject it. It is, however, still held by some. Mr. C. E. Keyser, F.S.A., who read a valuable paper to the Society of Antiquaries in 1881 on the subject of the Agnus Dei, in which he instances the example on our lintel, after visiting the Church, wrote to me as follows :
" The sculpture on the tympanum, or rather the mutilated lintel, of a former Norman doorway at Rushton Church is very curious, and, as far as I am aware, unique in its treatment. In the centre is the Agnus Dei with the Cross supported on the right forefoot, and a scroll coming from His mouth enclosing a portion of an oval object, perhaps intended for a vesica. On the east side is a figure seated full-faced in the act of Benediction and holding an open Look in the left hand, while on the west side is another figure, seated sideways and facing the Agnus Dei, with a closed book in the left hand and holding a dove in the right. I think we have here portrayed the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, a subject which cannot to my knowledge be positively identified elsewhere in England during the Norman period."
Another suggests that whilst the great central object represents the crucified Saviour, each of the human figures may be intended for an ecclesiastic (the book in each case implying a teacher), the hand of the one lifted up in the act of benediction, denoting the blessing, and the dove on the hand of the other the peace which will be bestowed on those who pay homage to the Redeemer.
Whilst another says,
“I think it possible that the third figure may be the personification of ' Sapientia,' which occurs in very ancient sculptures in conjunction with the well-known representation of Our Saviour in the act of blessing.”
And still another. A scholar who has seen much of the world and has read and thought much comes and suggests that the east figure may represent the Saviour pronouncing His benediction on those whose names are in the open book the Lamb's Book of Life whilst the west figure represents Him as Judge, the bird, looking in the face, representing a soul undergoing judgment or giving an account of the past; the closed book implying that the time is past for any name to be written there. And so one might go on ad infinitum,
But to me this, at any rate, seems clear that long before the Reformation we have the open Bible held up to the people, and the same people pointed to the Lamb and the Cross and the Name of Him who is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Saviour, and very possibly to the Heavenly Dove, the Holy Spirit.
May I hazard the conjecture a mere conjecture as to the word Tarrant, which gives a name to every village in the valley. In the last edition of Hutchins it is suggested that it may be a corruption of the word torrent. But, whatever our stream may be, it is certainly never a torrent. I should as soon accept this derivation by a Latin scholar as I should one of the synonyms for Rushton viz., Russeauton given probably by French ecclesiastics when they walked down the valley from Launceston, which was connected with the Abbey of Caen, to Keyneston, which belonged to the Bishop of Lisieux or to the far-famed Abbey of Tarent i.e., Crawford.
To me Tarent, as it is almost always spelt in old documents, seems to be the same as Trent, or Derwent, the d and t being interchangeable, and derived from dwr = water a word which is found in Durweston, Dorchester, and Dorset.
Then what about the ending ? 1 If it is more than an ending I should connect it with the word Wynne, which we find in "Wyn Green, Wyngate, Vindogladia, and which in the Latin form is found in Venta, as Venta Silurum, now Caerwent, meaning bright, clear.
The poor stream is sadly failing now, in consequence of the long drought, but Charles Kingsley, when for a short time he had charge of the neighbouring parish of Pimperne, wrote of it, among others, almost enthusiastically, and said he could preach for an hour on the chalk streams of Dorset because of their clearness.

Le Pard, Gordon, 1998, Medieval sundials in Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 119, 82 (Article in serial). SDO21411.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 112-113 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(1) THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY, on the N. of the village, has walls of rubble and flint with ashlar dressings of greensand and Heathstone, and tiled roofs. The Nave and chancel arch preserve the form and part of the structure of an early 12th-century building, which appears to have been extended westwards later in the 12th century. In the first half of the 14th century the Chancel was rebuilt, the North and South Transepts were added, and a small West Tower was erected over the western extension of the nave. The South Porh was added in the 15th century; the N. vestry is modern.'

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 419-20 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1976 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 93740605) St. Mary's Church (NAT)

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 17-18 (Serial). SDO84.

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AA39/02797 (Index). SDO14738.

A view of St Mary's Church, Tarrant Rushton, from the south-east

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OP24451 (Index). SDO14738.

Interior view of St Mary's Church, Tarrant Rushton, looking east

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OP24452 (Index). SDO14738.

A view of St Mary's Church, Tarrant Rushton, from the south-east

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209456 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 29 2025 11:49AM