Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 27 January 2026 to update the Name and Address and reformat the text to current standards

ST 5814-5914
11/2

BRADFORD ABBAS,
CHURCH Road (North side)
Parish Church of St Mary

(Formerly listed as CHURCH STREET (North side))

31.7.61

GV
I

Parish Church. c. C12 chancel. C15, nave rebuilt and lengthened south chapel and south porch added, two east bays of the north aisle and arcade built. Shortly after, the aisle and arcade were continued west, and west tower added. South vestry added late C15. Stone wall above the screen removed, and chancel arch inserted in 1858. Roofs restored in 1890 and tower in 1906. Organ chamber added in 1911. Local rubble walls, ashlar-faced, and dressings of Ham Hill stone. Roofs of stone slates and lead. Chancel projects one short by now beyond vestries. C14 east window, with restored tracery.

North wall: C15 window of two cinquefoiled ogee lights in a square head. South wall: window with late C14 jambs and splays. Nave, of five bays built on two stages, with north aisle and south chapel, two bays. West of South doorway is a C15 window of three cinquefoiled lights with panel tracery in a two.centred head. South doorway has moulded jambs and two-centred arch.

South chapel, mid C15, buttressed, with an embattled parapet continued along the walls of porch and nave. South wall has three windows, eastermost late C14 reset, of two trefoiled ogee lights in a pointed head with moulded reveals. South porch, continuous with south chapel. Outer archway, similar detail to south arcade of nave. Above, niche with carved bracket.

West tower, mid C15, of three stages with octagonal angle-turrets, moulded plinth and embattled parapet, pinnacled and with an octagonal North East turret. West doorway: shallow porch, heavily ornamented (see RCHM). West window is of four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a pointed head. Moulded reveals and label, flanked by niches. West wall, three large niches with foliated brackets, two with statues. Bell-chamber, has a pair of windows in each wall.

INTERIOR: nave north arcade of moulded pointed arches from shafted piers. South wall, C15 arcade of two bays of similar detail, east of it is passage and steps to former rood-loft. West tower, tower-arch is two-centred and moulded, springing from moulded and shafted responds with foliated caps. Reveals and soffit panelled.

Roof: C15 restored, low pitch, six bays with moulded principals, purlins, brattished plates and moulded stone cornices, see RCHM. North and South aisles with C15 pent-roofs, (RCHM).

Font: C15, very ornamental design based on octagonal bowl, stemmed, and free-standing corner piers, carved corner figures. Stone screen with central doorway (septfoiled head). Side bays. Bench-ends and two pew backs carved, early C16.

Pulpit: oak, hexagonal, dated 1632 P.G., R.M. Sounding-boards. Chests, medieval and C17. Piscinae, four. Monuments and floor slabs, C18 and C19, numerous.

(RCHM Dorset I, p.31(2))


Listing NGR: ST5874214280

External Links

• Wikidata Q17533328

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)