Parish Church Of St Simon And St Jude

The parish church of St Simon and St Jude is a building of the 13th century, originally comprising a chancel and nave that were structurally undivided. A north porch was added in the 15th century and subsequently rebuilt. Around 1500, a west tower was added, and in the early 16th century, a south arcade and south aisle were constructed. A restoration in 1870 involved rebuilding the north wall of the chancel and the east wall of the nave, extending north of the porch. An organ chamber was added south of the chancel around 1875.

The church is constructed of rubble stone walls with freestone dressings, covered by lead and slate roofs. The chancel has restored pilaster buttresses at the corners of the east wall and a mostly 15th-century east window of three cinquefoiled ogee lights with vertical tracery beneath a pointed head with a label and head stops. A restored 16th-century window with three round-headed lights in a square head is found in the north wall. The nave’s north wall contains two similar windows. The early 13th-century north doorway has rounded jambs, a segmental arch, and hollow chamfered imposts. The south aisle has two restored 16th-century windows, each with three four-centred lights in a square head. A blocked south doorway features chamfered jambs and lintel. A window similar to those in the south wall is located in the west wall.

The early 16th-century west tower has two stages, originally divided into three, with a moulded plinth, weathered string between the stages, a parapet string, and an embattled parapet. Diagonal buttresses flank the north east corner and a polygonal stair turret is present. The west window has two trefoiled ogee lights with tracery within a pointed head, moulded reveals, a label, and head stops. A square-headed window is visible in the former second storey, its string course rising to form a label. The bell chamber has a pair of square-headed lights in each wall; the south and west windows are restored with stone horizontal ties.

The 15th-century north porch has a moulded jambs and pointed head to the outer archway. The interior south arcade comprises three bays with four-centred and moulded arches springing from piers and responds with attached shafts and moulded bases and capitals carved with foliage and roses. The font is octagonal, with a moulded and splayed bowl, a plain stem, and a 20th-century base, potentially dating back to the 14th century. A piscina in the chancel has chamfered jambs, a moulded crocketed ogee head, and a projecting base. A 19th-century screen separates the chancel and nave and incorporates late 14th-century fretted tracery. A communion table with turned legs, moulded upper rails, and shaped brackets dates to the late 17th century. Royal Arms of George III, painted after 1816, are displayed on the north nave wall within a moulded frame. Various 17th- and 19th-century monuments and floor slabs are present, documented further in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments for Dorset.