Church of Unknown Dedication is a Grade II listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 August 1960. Church.

Church of Unknown Dedication

WRENN ID
burning-chancel-torch
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Dorset
Constituency
North Dorset MP: Simon Hoare (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
16 August 1960
Type
Church
Address
Church of Unknown Dedication, West Orchard
OS grid reference
ST 823 164
Coordinates
50.94707, -2.25235
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of Unknown Dedication is a parish church located in West Orchard Village. The chancel dates from the late 15th century, while the rest of the church was constructed in 1876 by T.H. Wyatt. The building is made of squared, dressed greensand and features a gabled, tiled roof with stone copings and finials, along with a west bell-cote. The 15th-century work is in the 'Perpendicular' style, while the 1876 additions are part 'Perpendicular' and part 'Decorated'.

The church has a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a north vestry. The 1876 windows mainly consist of two lights with two-centred heads and flowing or panel tracery, along with some lancets. The east window from the 15th century has three lights under a square head with a relieving arch and panel tracery. The south side features two lancets with returned labels. The south porch has a two-centred moulded head and continuously moulded jambs, with an inner door that also has a two-centred shape and continuously moulded jambs. A door leading from the porch to the south aisle has a square moulded head and jambs.

Inside, the church has two bays with two-centred, moulded arcades on octagonal piers that have moulded capitals and bases. There is a two-centred moulded chancel arch on half-piers with moulded capitals and bases. The 19th-century octagonal font features quatrefoil panels on a moulded octagonal pier. A stone dividing wall separates the nave and chancel and includes an integral stone pulpit with trefoil-headed panels. The chancel roof is ribbed and from the 19th century, with carved bosses springing from a dentilled and moulded wall-plate. The nave roof is also from the 19th century, featuring an arch-braced collar beam with king posts. Other fittings in the church are from the 19th century. In the churchyard, there is a round bowl from a 12th-century font.

Local climate

Church of Unknown Dedication receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 52% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 64% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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