Church of St Ann

Details

WEYMOUTH

SY6681SE RADIPOLE LANE, Radipole
873-1/12/501 (North side)
12/12/53 Church of St Ann

GV II*

Anglican parish church. C13 nave, N and S chapels and chancel
C14, W front rebuilt C16, porch and rebuilt S chapel C18, C19
restoration, C20 vestry. Portland stone ashlar and rubble,
slate roofs.
PLAN: the original 2-cell building of nave and chancel is
extended by transept-like chapels each side, with S porch, and
N vestry.
EXTERIOR: W front has diagonal stepped buttresses and a coped
gable, carrying a notable exmple of a square bell-turret in 2
stages, with 1 over 2 vertical openings with 5-cusped heads;
the turret roof is a low, lead-covered pyramid, and there are
4 gargoyles. A large stepped external buttress abuts the
centre of the front to sustain the turret.
The nave S front has a C14 two-light window left of the porch,
and a small 2-light C16 window with plain pointed lights, to
the right. The deep square porch has a chamfered stone eaves
course, and a coped gable over a small tablet inscribed 'WMCW
1733', below which is a large plain inscribed war memorial
slab. A round-arched chamfered opening has a pair of C19 doors
with chamfered framing, and decorative cast-iron grilles. The
S chapel has a coped gable above a flush tablet inscribed 'WM
EM Churchwardens 1735' (date of the restoration), above a
3-light uncusped window with plain label.
The chancel has a small light with cusped ogee head, a plain
glazed opening (former doorway) with bold ogee lintel, and a
2-light with quatrefoil. The E end has a 2-light Perpendicular
window in flush surround, with label to square stops, and
casement plus cavetto moulds. The N side of the chancel has a
2-light uncusped window with trefoil head, and a small cusped
ogee-headed light, blocked below.
The N chapel, E side, has a 3-light C14 window without label,
and a 3-light C14 with label in the S wall; here the
churchyard level is high, and a drainage channel has been
formed, revealing the plinth. In the internal corner is the
flat-roofed vestry, and the N side of the nave has a lofty C16
2-light to 4-centred heads, and a small lancet.
INTERIOR: the nave is in 5 bays, with tie-beam trusses with
king posts and queen struts; much of this is late medieval
work, with chamfered members. The painted walls are on a
carpeted floor. The priest's door, leading to the vestry, is

not directly opposite the main entry, and to its right is a
recessed opening to a flat lintel. A deep W gallery with
panelled front, on a moulded beam with brackets. At the W end
is a pointed recess, formerly the W window, with exposed
rubble fill. The chapels are entered through pointed arches
with a plain chamfer; the N chapel has a painted barrel roof,
and the S a 7-sided barrel, and on tiled floors. A cusped
piscina in each. The chancel arch is double chamfered, and the
roof is in arch-braced rafters.
FITTINGS: painted pews with floral panels, carved oak pulpit,
1902, in memory of Richard E E---sward, and a matching reading
desk. The E window is a memorial to Captain Prowse, 1885,
above a late C19 stone reredos. The polished oak communion
rail incorporates 17 turned balusters of the C16 from a
staircase at No.4 North Quay (RCHME). The C13 font bowl,
formerly square, but cut to a rounded front, is on a central
shaft and 4 slender columns, and with a 1978 cover, opposite
the porch. Above the chancel arch are the Royal Arms of
William IV, and there are various monuments, detailed in the
RCHME inventory, but including a fine Baroque cartouche, in
the nave, to Humphrey Hardy, d.1725, and a rectangular marble
tablet with a St George and Dragon, with leaf enrichment, in
Art Nouveau style, to Charleton W Gordon-Steward, Major in the
5th Fusiliers, killed in action, April 1917. Above the font is
a painted ceiling panel depicting St John the Baptist.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the Church of St Ann, now in a rather
peripheral position in Weymouth, was the mother church for the
area, until replaced by St Mary, St Mary Street (qv) in 1605.
It lies immediately to the W of the Manor House (qv), and
opposite the village school (qv St Ann's Church Room).
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 363; The Buildings
of England: Newman J & Pevsner N: Dorset: London: 1972-: 355).



Listing NGR: SY6672481370


This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 26 October 2017.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

467832

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset II South East, (1970), 363
Pevsner, N, Newman, J, The Buildings of England: Dorset, (1972), 355

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 26 October 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/85
War Memorials Online, accessed 26 October 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/240508

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