Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a parish church located in Sturminster Marshall. It dates back to the 12th century, with extensions from the 13th century and alterations from the 14th and 15th centuries. The tower was rebuilt in 1805, and significant restoration work was carried out in 1859 by Henry Woodyer. The church is constructed from ironstone rubble with limestone dressings, featuring a plinth, stepped buttresses, and hood-moulds, all topped with a tile roof.

The layout includes a continuous nave and chancel, a wide north aisle that leads into a chapel (with a small vestry added in 1859 at its east end), a south porch (mostly from 1859), and a west tower (the upper part of which was completed in 1859). The windows are all from the restoration period, designed in 'Decorated' or 'Perpendicular' styles, including a lancet opening into a tall sedilia. The tower consists of three stages, with weathered offsets, flat corner buttresses, a crenellated parapet, and corner pinnacles.

Inside the church, the Norman arcade is supported by later square columns, while the remaining features are predominantly Victorian. These include a tall wooden screen, plaster barrel vaults in the nave and aisle, a pulpit with an ogee base, a 'Norman' font, and a collection of monuments, floor slabs, and brasses, mostly from the 19th century, along with a 17th-century helm. The chancel is adorned with three stained glass windows by John Hardman & Co. The porch contains some earlier elements and opens onto a Tudor south doorway, housing two medieval coffin slabs.