Church Of Saint Mary

The Church of Saint Mary is an Anglican parish church, built in 1854. The architect was Blanchard, as reported in the Poole Herald. The church is constructed of coursed rubble stone with slate roofs featuring coped gables and parapets; the nave parapets are battlemented and the chancel parapets are panelled. The layout comprises a nave, a chancel with a vestry to the north, a south porch, and a west tower incorporating a mausoleum to the south.

The three-stage tower has a battlemented parapet and diagonal buttresses, topped with carved gargoyles. Moulded string courses define each stage. An octagonal stair turret is located on the north side. The west wall features a three-light window with geometrical tracery on the lowest stage, and two-light traceried windows with trefoiled lancets illuminate the belfry. The centre stage has two-light windows. The mausoleum, south of the tower, has a flat roof with a battlemented parapet and a four-light rectangular window with ogee-headed lights. The south porch has diagonal buttresses and a pointed arched doorway. The south wall of the nave, west of the porch, contains a trefoiled lancet window, while east of the porch are two two-light windows with plate tracery, separated by a buttress. Diagonal buttresses are present on the chancel south wall, along with a pair of trefoiled lancets. A four-light east window, featuring geometrical tracery, is also present. The vestry, north of the chancel, has a pair of lancet windows. The north wall of the nave has three two-light windows with plate tracery, buttressed between them.

The inner doorway to the porch has a pointed arch with continuous mouldings. The tower base incorporates carved oak panelling and a fireplace surround with canopy, flanked by carved figures dating back to the 16th century and imported from elsewhere. A 17th-century painting is positioned above the fireplace. The tower contains a marble figure of an angel and a screen originally from Crosby Hall in London; a similar screen is found within the mausoleum, which holds a marble effigy of Charles Van Raalte, dating from around 1901. The nave’s roof is an arch-braced collar beam structure incorporating interlacing wind braces. 19th-century oak pews and a pulpit are also present. The chancel features a pointed waggon roof, with carved 16th-century panelling, also drawn from Crosby Hall. A stone and marble altar is located within the sanctuary, which has a marble floor. Two 17th-century carved panels adorn the north wall of the nave. The church is modest in scale but possesses significant fittings.