CHURCH HISTORY and GUIDE

THE CHURCH was built about 1250, probably on the site of an earlier one. The first known Rector was appointed about this time. Over the centuries maintaining the fabric has been a constant problem and an extensive restoration took place in 1868, when the east window was altered, the roof renewed, galleries removed and seating replaced. As shown in the sketch the church was almost destroyed in 1943. The tower, eight bells, the medieval parclose screens, the organ and the furnishings were lost.

REBUILDING was completed in 1957 at a cost of £30,000 pounds. The two former chancel aisles were not replaced. The square tower built to its former height proved unsatisfactory and had to be reconstructed at a lower level in 1970. The work carried out by village building firms in each case.

THE CHURCHYARD has two lynch gates, north and west, and was extended in 1934. The oldest gravestone, dating from 1706 has been placed on a buttress at the west end of the church. (1)

THE PORCH has a chamber over it approached by a stairway in the right hand wall. The inner doorway has a fine early-English double arch with Purbeck marble shafts. (2)

THE NAVE lost its roof in the bombing. The wooden bosses in the ceiling were specially carved for the reconstruction and each one conceals a coin placed there by the craftsmen who helped to rebuild the church in the 1950s.

THE FONT was overturned but undamaged in 1943. It is of granite, octagonal, with designs cut into it including some grotesque faces. (3)

THE WEST WINDOW was designed by Miss Marion Grant to replace the glass shattered in 1943. The rich colours, symbols and figures represent the Te Deum. (4)

THE CHANCEL formerly had two aisles, the foundations of which can be seen outside the church. The southern one was a chantry chapel established in 1284 to enable prayers to be said for the soul of Andrew de Cardinan. (6) The vestry was built on part of the northern one and conceals the entrance to the stairs which formerly led to the rood loft. (7) The Portland stone altar was presented to the church by the Women’s Institute and there is a piscine on the right hand wall.

THE EAST WINDOW also designed by Marion Grant uses the frame and tracery of the former window of the south chancel aisle and replaces the one completely destroyed in 1943. It tells the story of Christ in quotation and picture. (E)

THE TRANSEPTS The northern transept contains the organ. Some of the memorials saved from the bombing can be seen on the walls behind it. The southern transept is now the lady chapel. It has a door to the circular tower, which contains a spiral staircase to the former ringing chamber in the main tower. (4)

THE SCREENS The ornamentation along the tops of the screens across the transepts is all that survives of the finely carved medieval screens destroyed in 1943.

THE FIGURE in the niche above the lectern is of Walter de Stapeldon, Rector here c1300. He went on to become Bishop of Exeter and Lord High Treasurer of England. He was murdered by a London mob in 1326. (5)

The Church prior to bombing	The Church destroyed 1943