Description

THORNFORD
ST 6013-6113 CHURCH ROAD (west side)
16/139 Parish Church of
St Mary Magdalene
31.7.61
GV II*

Parish Church. Chancel and west tower, C14. Nave rebuilt in C15, and
north chapel added. North vestry added in C16. Church restored in 1866,
when north aisle was added, incorporating former north chapel. North vestry
rebuilt. South wall ofnave rebuilt. South porch added. Rubble-stone walls
with ashlar dressings. Lead roofs. West tower, C14, of 3 stages with an
embattled parapet and gargoyles. The west window is of three trefoiled
ogee lights with tracery in a 2-centred head. In the external sill is
part of the square head of a doorway, now destroyed. Bell-chamber has,
in each wall, a window of 2 trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a
2-centred head. The lights have pierced stone slabs, one on the south
being dated 1634. Chancel: much refenestrated in C15, having an east
window of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a two-centred,moulded
reveals, label and head stops. South wall has two C15 windows similar
to the east window, though of two lights. Blocked C15 doorway has
chamfered jambs and 4-centred head. North wall has a c. C14 window,
altered in C15. Nave, south wall has two C15 windows, similar to the
south windows of the chancel; the inner reveals are shafted and have
foliage capitals. North aisle, C19, except for the C15 east bay, east
window of C15 is blocked except for the tracery. Aisle has four 2-light
windows. Diagonal buttresses. South porch, has side buttresses with
set-offs, gabled and coped with a cross at apex. Entrance has responds
and a pointed-arch head. Label over, stopped. Inner entrance has
moulded jambs and pointed-arch head. 2-leaf plank-and-muntin door,
studded, C19. North vestry, C19, though the north window incorporates
a square C15 window-head of 2 cinquefoiled ogee lights. Interior: north
arcade of 4 bays, four attached shafts to piers, with carved capitals
and moulded arch-orders. Pointed arches. Chancel-arch, C19. Tower-
arch, of 2 moulded orders, inner springs from moulded corbels carved
with faces. Roofs: ground-stage of tower incorporates 7 C15 bosses
(RCHM). Chancel has a wagon-roof, ceiled and bossed along the ridge,
015. Nave: arch-braced scissored construction with ashlaring, C19.
Consecration crosses, 14 (RCHM). Fonts: 1) Octagonal bowl panelled
and stem, C15. 2) Broken circular bowl with moulded necking, C13.
Screen stone, of 5 bays including doorway, C15. Monuments and floor-
slabs of C17 and C18. (RCHM, Dorset I, p 249(2)).

Listing NGR: ST6030513270

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553807

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2