Parish Church of the Holy Rood is a Grade II* listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 November 1959. A Medieval Church.
Parish Church of the Holy Rood
- WRENN ID
- strange-cinder-russet
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Dorset
- Constituency
- South Dorset MP: Lloyd Hatton (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 20 November 1959
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Parish Church of the Holy Rood, Church Lane, Wool
- OS grid reference
- SY 847 864
- Coordinates
- 50.67761, -2.21719
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Parish Church of the Holy Rood is a parish church with origins dating back to the 13th century, which was enlarged in the 15th century and further expanded and partially rebuilt in the 19th century. The church features stone walls, with roofs that are partly tiled and partly covered with lead. It has parapets on the gables, which are topped with stone copings. The structure includes a nave, north and south aisles with four bays each, a chancel with a vestry on the north side, a north porch, and a west tower.
The tower, built in the 15th century, consists of three stages and is topped with a battlemented parapet and a semi-octagonal stair turret on the south side. The top stage features 2-light windows with lattice filling, the middle stage has a slit window on the south, and the lowest stage includes a 3-light west window adorned with Perpendicular tracery. The south aisle, added in the 19th century, has a battlemented parapet and contains three reset 15th-century square-headed 3-light windows, along with a doorway from the same period that has a depressed 4-centred arch.
The chancel, rebuilt in the 19th century, has two 2-light windows on the south wall and a 3-light east window, all designed in the style of the 15th century. The north aisle, from the 15th century, features a parapet and added 19th-century buttresses, with one 2-light and one 3-light window. The porch was rebuilt in the 19th century but retains a reset 15th-century outer arch, while the inner arch has a depressed 4-centred head.
Internally, the two central bays of the north arcade are from the 13th century, featuring circular piers with moulded caps. The west bay is from the 15th century and matches the style of the earlier bays, while the east bay is from the 19th century. The south arcade, also from the 19th century, replicates the design of the north arcade. The chancel was rebuilt in the 19th century, and the chancel arch, dating to the late 14th century, is divided into three arched sections that create a stone "screen." All roofs are from the 19th century, constructed of pine, with a hammer-beam form in the chancel and arch-braced scissor trusses in the nave. Most of the fittings are from the 19th century, while the font is from the 15th century and is positioned against a pier of the north arcade.
Local climate
Parish Church of the Holy Rood receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 58% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 11 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 90% of listed buildings. Of these, 4 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.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
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