Church Of St Rumbold

Church of St Rumbold, Cann

A church of medieval foundation, completely rebuilt in 1839-40 by William Walker, a Shaftesbury architect. The church was subsequently reordered and a vestry added in 1910 by C.E. Ponting, surveyor to the Diocese of Salisbury. It now serves as a performance space for Shaftesbury School.

The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs. The plan comprises a five-bay nave with a west tower (originally fitted with a gallery) and staircases in the re-entrant angles between nave and tower. A north-east vestry of lean-to type was added in 1910.

St Rumbold is a very plain lancet-style church, typical of the unarchaeological Gothic of the early 19th century, with no parapets, pinnacles, or other adornment. The east wall, which abuts directly onto Salisbury Road, is lit by a window of three stepped lancets under a hoodmould. The west tower has an embattled parapet and three tiers of single uncusped lancets, with the belfry stage louvred. A moulded-arch west door provides the principal entrance. Both the north and south sides of the nave are lit by plain lancets—six on each side—each bay marked by a short buttress. The vestry roof is continuous with that of the nave. A shallow south porch near the west end may have been added in 1910. The church sits on the south-west side of Salisbury Street with a long narrow graveyard extending to its south-west.

The interior features an elaborate steep timber roof. Mid-Victorian stained glass is present in the east window, while the nave contains late 19th or early 20th century glass in multiple lights, including one dated 1924. The church originally contained a late 12th century font from the medieval predecessor—cauldron-shaped with lightly decorated scallops on the underside—though this was removed when the church was deconsecrated.

The village of Cann lies approximately one and a half miles south-east of Shaftesbury, but its medieval parish church was situated in Salisbury Street on the edge of the town, over a mile from the village itself. A faculty for rebuilding on the same site was obtained in 1839, and the new church opened on 22 September 1840. The 1910 alterations included plans for a projected north aisle that was never constructed. C.E. Ponting reordered the interior, forming a baptistery in one of the staircase recesses adjacent to the tower and creating a chancel within the east end of the nave.

The church was declared redundant on 23 February 1971 and subsequently became the chapel for Shaftesbury Grammar School for boys. Following the school's conversion to comprehensive status and renaming as Shaftesbury School, the building is now used as a teaching and performance space for drama and music.