Listed Building record MDO9565 - Church of St Mary, Sixpenny Handley

A parish church with chancel and south porch of fourteenth-century date. The rest of the building was rebuit or added in 1877. An early medieval font and tympanum of around 1130-50 are inside the church.

The Church of St. Mary, rebuilt in 1877, retains a 14th century chancel and south porch. The font and a capital used as a stoup in the porch indicate a 12th century building. <2>

Church of St Mary. The plan consists of a C14th chancel and south porch, the rest comprising the west tower, north and south aisles, north vestry and north organ chamber were rebuilt or added in 1877. <3>

A panel reset in the north wall of the north aisle shows a seated figure of Christ in majesty, of ca 1130-50. Badly damaged. Judging from its size, this would originally have formed the centrepiece of a tympanum. Allowing for the framing, such a tympanum would have been larger than any other in Dorset, and it is unlikely that it was intended for a church of the status of Handley. <4>

There have been suggestions that the church originated as a minster on the grounds that it had been a separate parish before its annexation to Iwerne Minster in 1327. However, while the church controlled a large area, most of it was part of the estates of Shaftesbury Abbey. <5>

Le Pard, Gordon, 1998, Medieval sundials in Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 119, 80-81 (Article in serial). SDO21411.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1963 (Map). SDO18658.

(ST 99561730) St. Mary's Church (NAT)

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 64-65 (Monograph). SDO136.

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 392 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 20 (Serial). SDO84.

<5> Hall, T A, 2000, Minster Churches in the Dorset Landscape, 100 (Monograph). SDO10264.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209810 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 1 2025 12:13PM