Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church, now no longer in use, built in 1850 with a chancel added in 1886. It is attributed to the architect George Alexander and was commissioned by H C Sturt. The church is constructed with finely jointed ashlar stone and features slate and lead roofs. It has a cruciform layout, comprising a nave, chancel, north transept, south transept, and a north vestry. The eaves have a parapet adorned with blind quatrefoils, and there are two weathered stage buttresses. The architectural style is a mix of Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular elements.

The nave includes four pointed, two-light traceried windows on both the north and south walls, while the west nave window features three lights under a pointed head. The chancel has a pointed west window with three lights and elaborate vertical tracery. Both transepts contain three-light windows. An octagonal stone bell-cote with a domed cap is located at the south-west corner of the south transept. The west doorway has a moulded pointed head and continuous jambs.

Although the interior was not inspected, it is reported that fittings have been largely stripped. The chancel is noted by architectural historians Newman and Pevsner as "one of the most ambitious in Dorset." Internal features include a pointed, moulded chancel arch supported by respond shafts, pointed, moulded transept arches with shafted jambs, an eight-bay arch-braced hammer-beam roof in the nave, and a two-bay fan vaulted chancel roof with cusped and moulded panelling and gilded ribs. The vestry doorway has an elaborate surround, and there is a blank stone arcade along the east wall of the north transept, a stone gothic communion rail, and two tomb recesses with plain tomb-chests in the chancel.

The craftsmanship displayed in the church and its features are considered to be of above-average quality for a mid-19th century parish church.