Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew is a Grade I listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 March 1955. A C14 Church. 2 related planning applications.

Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew

WRENN ID
guardian-pediment-auburn
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Dorset
Constituency
North Dorset MP: Simon Hoare (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
18 March 1955
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew, Church Street, Cranborne, BH21 5PY
OS grid reference
SU 054 132
Coordinates
50.91865, -1.92379
Source
Historic England listing

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

Description

The Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew is a parish church largely dating to the 14th century, with a 12th-century north doorway and parts of the south arcade, and 19th-century work by David Brandon. It is constructed of flint and rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a tiled and lead-covered roof with some stone-slated margins and gable stone copings. The church plan includes a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, a north porch, a north vestry, and a south organ chamber. The nave has two clerestory windows, each of three elliptically headed lights. The aisles feature mainly early 14th-century two-light windows with ogee-headed lights; the east window of the south aisle has an early 14th-century window of three graduated, trefoiled lights, next to a 15th-century four-light square-headed window.

The massive west tower comprises five stages separated by moulded strings, with diagonal and square-set buttresses. It has an octagonal south vice-turret and a pointed west doorway set in a moulded, square surround with carved stops. A five-light west window with Perpendicular tracery under a pointed head is above the doorway, with small trefoiled windows to the north and south of the fourth stage. Two-light belfry windows with Perpendicular tracery under four-centred heads are at the top. 19th-century additions largely incorporate paired lancets. The east window is of five graduated lancets. The reset north doorway has a round head with shafted jambs, scalloped capitals and chevron and nailhead decoration.

Internally, the church features a six-bay pointed arcade of two chamfered orders, truncated to the west, on alternating octagonal and shafted piers. There is a 19th-century pointed, moulded chancel arch with shafted jambs, a 15th-century plastered waggon-roof with tie-beams, and beamed aisle roofs. A 19th-century waggon roof covers the chancel. Several 14th- or 15th-century wall paintings are present, alongside a late 14th- or early 15th-century circular oak pulpit with panelled sides, blind tracery, and a cornice with carved bosses. A font dating from around 1200 has an octagonal bowl with pointed, panelled sides on a central circular pier surrounded by subsidiary shafts. The church contains reset medieval glass and numerous important monuments, including those to Sir Edward Hooper (1678), Ann and Katherine Hooper (17th century), John Elliott (1641), and John Hawles (1571). A tomb recess in the north chancel wall may have been an Easter Sepulchre. Other fittings are mainly from the 19th century.

Local climate

Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew receives an average of 830 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 53% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 76% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 20 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 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

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. The Old Rectory Grade II 52 m
  2. 1, CHURCH STREET (See details for further address information) Grade II 62 m
  3. Cranborne War Memorial Grade II 84 m
  4. Fleur-De-Lys Inn Grade II 104 m
  5. 2, Salisbury Street Grade II 109 m
  6. 4, Salisbury Street Grade II 115 m
  7. The Web Grade II 127 m
  8. 12, The Square Grade II 133 m
  9. Cranborne Manor House Grade I 141 m
  10. 14, The Square Grade II 142 m