Church Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

ST 60 NE HOLNEST

5/110 31-7-61 Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

GV I

Parish church, nave of uncertain date, west tower late c14/early C15, south aisle and porch C15, C17 alterations to porch and aisle, chancel and general restoration 1855. Rubble walls with dressed rubble dressings. Roofs: nave is tiled with gable ends having stone copings; chancel is tiled with stone slate verges having a stone coping with cross finial and gable ends; aisle is stone slated having gable ends with stone copings and finial; porch is similar to aisle. West tower: 2 stages and embattled parapet separated by westhered strings; diagonal 2-stage buttresses; west window of 2 cinqufoiled lights with 'perpendicular' tracery and quatrefoil under 2-centred head; south window of one light with a square head projecting into the second stage, the string course becoming a label ; upper stage has to each face a 2 trefoiled light window with 'perpendicular' tracery under a 2-centred head; 2 gargoyles to north face. Nave north face: square-set buttresses; 2 3-light square headed windows with 'perpendicular' tracery: ashlar eaves course. Chancel: east window of 2 cinqufoiled lights under a 2-centred head with returned label; south door has 2-centred, chamfered head with continuous jambs. South aisle: 2 centred head windows of 3-cinqufoiled lights and 'perpendicular' tracery: west C17 window of 2-lights under square head with ovolo-moulded mullions and returned label. Porch: dated 1650 on keystone: 2-centred arch with pendant keystone and apnelled impost blocks. South door: moulded, 2-centred with continuous jambs. Internal features: nave arcade of 2 plain round arches with a square- headed corbelled opening to the east; 2-centred tower arch with flat jambs, one continuous moulded order and another dying into reponds; moulded 2-centred chancel arch with continuous jambs; aisle has original waggon roof with moulded purlins and wall plate; C20 arch- braced collar roof to nave on corbels; porch has original collar truss roof; chancel has boarded rafter roof; C17 octagonal wooden pulpit with reeded panels and chip carving, sounding board missing, cl3 cylindrical font on cylindrical stem; Cl8 box pews with fielded panelling; wall painting in nave with black letter inscription; cl9 encaustic tiles; Cl7 floor slabs in chancel. There are a number of consecration crosses in various locations. RCHM, Dorset, Vol I, p 124, no 1. Newman J and Pevsner N, The Buildings of England: Dorset. Penguin, 1972, p 232.

Listing NGR: ST6561309820