Listed Building record MDO8107 - Parish Church of Lady St Mary, Wareham Town

The present church appears to incorporate fabric from the Saxon Minster. The West wall of the church is Saxon, possibly 8th century, the South chapel is 12th century, the chancel 14th century, the West tower 15th century, the West porch and North vestry are early 16th century. Generally restored 1841-2.

Parish Church of Lady St Mary at Wareham formerly incorporated the remains of the Saxon Minster. A Minster church is referred to as 'monasterium of holy virgins' in Asser's account of the Danish raids on the town in 876 AD. The associated nunnery here (see SY 98 NW 27) was presumably dispersed by the attack although the physical survival of the church is generally accepted as at Repton, Derbys (see SK 32 NW 3).

The importance of the Minster church is suggested by the burial here of King Brihtric in 802 and presumably the temporary resting place of King Edward in 978, before his translation to Shaftesbury Abbey. By 1086 the church was held by St. Wandrille Abbey but in the early 12th century it passed to the Abbey of Lire who replaced the canons by a cell of Benedictine monks (see SY 98 NW 27) (3) (5).

Architectural: A substantial portion of the aisleless nave of the Minster church, incorporated in the later parish church of Lady St. Mary, was demolished in 1840. No pre-Conquest fabric now survives (but see RCHM plan) although details of the nave have been reconstructed from pre-1840 illustrations and descriptive records; Taylor and Taylor gave a possible dating, between 950-1100 AD., but RCHM and Arch J. ascribed the work to the time of St. Aldhelm - early 8th century. The earliest feature now surviving in the present church is the St. Edward's Chapel of circa 1100 with an upper floor added in the 13th century. The remainder of the church contains 14th to early 16th century and 1841-2 work. (See RCHM plan).

Five stones with Christian British inscriptions, ranging in date from the 7th century to circa 800 AD or later, were all found built into the nave of the earlier church at the time of its demolition in 1840. They are considered to be memorials, originally in the cemetery of the Saxon Minster church; two of the stones occur on re-used Roman architecture fragments. Grade A. (2-6).

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 304-312 (Monograph). SDO149.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1929, Ordnance Survey Map 25, 1936 edition OS map (Map). SWX1185.

<2> Taylor, H M, and Taylor, Jean, 1965, Anglo-Saxon Architecture (Vol 2), p634-7 (Monograph). SWX3042.

<4> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 436 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<5> Penn, K J, 1980, Historic Towns in Dorset, 107-110 Plan (Monograph). SWX1202.

<6> Ralegh Radford, C A, 1973, Pre-conquest Minster Churches. The Archaeological Journal 130, p126-127 (Article in serial). SWX3046.

<7> DOE (HRR), 8 April 1976, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: District of Purbeck and Wareham amendment 1976, p3 (Scheduling record). SWX3039.

<8> Aston, Michael, and Lewis, Carenza (eds), 1994, The medieval landscape of Wessex, p53 Fig 3.3 (Monograph). SWX1296.

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

Record last edited

Apr 16 2025 1:55PM