dorset churches

gatepier and cast iron railings of strickland's church of 1827-9

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

font of c.1130

over the altar is this fragment of a carving of mary magdalene washing christ's feet, work from fairly early in the c12

this tiny mid c19 cell of a church holds two c12 treasures and a modern story. the carving over the altar and the font, both of c.1130 ; the story is of the parishoners declaring independence from the diocese, the bishop having wished to close the church and the parishioners wanting it to stay open. they say it's all because the vicar wanted to impose happy clappy worship, and treated them like children, whilst they preferred the book of common prayer, so now they are not allowed to call their meetings a service and do without a vicar. good enough for trollope, or an ealing comedy, and wonderfully english, but it also raises the question of who morally owns the parish churches of england, often built with lay funds and full of our history, yet at the mercy of the church when it closes them and even sells them sometimes.

this tiny mid c19 cell of a church holds two c12 treasures and a modern story. the carving over the altar and the font, both of c.1130 ; the story is of the parishoners declaring independence from the diocese, the bishop having wished to close the church and the parishioners wanting it to stay open. they say it's all because the vicar wanted to impose happy clappy worship, and treated them like children, whilst they preferred the book of common prayer, so now they are not allowed to call their meetings a service and do without a vicar. good enough for trollope, or an ealing comedy, and wonderfully english, but it also raises the question of who morally owns the parish churches of england, often built with lay funds and full of our history, yet at the mercy of the church when it closes them and even sells them sometimes.

glass by morris and co. to old burne jones designs, but made c.1913, and it shows.

detail of jem feacey's new church, with figures from the town's history on the arcades built between 1906-27, when work mercifully stopped.

detail of jem feacey's new church, with figures from the town's history on the arcades built between 1906-27, when work mercifully stopped.

small for a font, big for a stoup. pevsner thought it may be c17.

this added base under one of the original c12 columns is supposedly a roman capital, giving a confusing and odd effect

the c12 capitals and piers, the arches above a later c13 rebuild