Church Of St Mary Magdalen

The Church of St. Mary Magdalen is an Anglican parish church located in Winterbourne Monkton, built between 1877 and 1879 by architect William Butterfield. It incorporates fragments of a 14th-century structure. The church is constructed from rock-faced limestone with ashlar dressings, featuring stone tiles and concrete tiles on the north slopes. It has a nave with a south porch and a shingled bell tower, as well as a chancel with a lean-to vestry on the north side.

The gabled porch covers the south door, which has a restored simple chamfered early 14th-century arch, and there is a similar but blocked north door. The windows are varied, including 2-light windows formed from medieval lancets and a 17th-century three-light transomed window on the north side. The timber-framed bell tower rises through the nave roof and has a pyramidal roof clad in shingles. A tall chimney is located at the east end of the nave.

Inside, the nave features a 6-bay barrel vault and a medieval trefoiled stoup on the north side. The bell tower has round timber legs and provides ladder access from a corbel on the west wall. The chancel arch dates from the 13th to 14th century and includes a small piscina on the impost, flanked by 19th-century triple blind trefoiled panels. The chancel has a facetted roof and its sanctuary is lined with strips of brick tiling. The sill of the east window is dropped to serve as a reredos, with glass designed by A. Gibbs.

Notable fittings include a splendid 12th-century font with chevron decoration that dissolves into a barbaric figure, and a 17th-century pulpit with arched and carved panels that has been restored. Other fittings are primarily from the 19th century. The church also contains furniture such as an early 18th-century chest and an elaborate harmonium by Bell & Co.

Monuments within the church include a 19th-century limestone wall monument at the west end of the nave, gothic in style with a star border, dedicated to Susanna Butler, who died in 1824. There is also a flush limestone panel from the 18th century for Elizabeth Thorald, who died in 1732, featuring a good inscription, and a white and grey marble table for William Hitchcock, who died in 1835.