Church of St Stephen
CHURCH OF ST STEPHEN
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1118977
- Date first listed:
- 11-Nov-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Stephen
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST STEPHEN
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-09-28
- Reference:
- IOE01/05514/01
- Rights:
- © Mr Harold T. F. Jenkins. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1118977
- Date first listed:
- 11-Nov-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Stephen
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST STEPHEN
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST STEPHEN
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Bettiscombe
- National Grid Reference:
- SY 39909 99978
Details
ST 39 NE BETTISCOMBE
5/8 Church of St Stephen 11.11.66 GV II Parish Church. Entirely rebuilt 1862, in Perpendicular style, by John Hicks of Dorchester. Rubble-stone walls with freestone banding and dressings. Tiled roof. West Tower, Nave, North Aisle, Chancel, South Porch, West Tower, of four stages with stone quoins, unbutressed. South stair turret of only two stages. Medieval Perpendicular west window of three lights with tracery, reset. Two-light bell openings with stone "traceries". Plain parapet with raised corners, stone-coped. South elevation: window-porch-window; chancel: window-buttress-window. C19 windows of two trefoil-headed lights with a quatrefoil over. One reused medieval head and mullion at east end of chancel south wall, with heraldic label-stop. Porch with 2-centred arch entrance with moulded stone jambs. Diagonal buttresses with set-offs. Interior: Nave with three-bay north arcade, carried on standard responds with hollow chamfers. Plain capitals and bases. Tower-arch: straight- chamfered dying into walls. Chancel-arch: three responds with wave-mountings over. Roof, wooden, of single-hammer-beam design with arch-braces, all carried on carved stone corbels. Segmental ridge-members Pulpit: C19, stone of debased Perpendicular type with tall panels and traceried heads. Signs of the Four Evangelists. Font: C19, octagonal stone bowl with central stone support and four Purbeck marble colonettes. Carved panels with e.g. Star of David, Dove, IHS, Passion flower, acorns and leaves. Monuments: (1) Stone floor-slab, at chancel-step, to Jane wife of John Pinney, dated 1695. (2) Blue lias floor-slab, next to (1), to Nathaniel Pinney dated 1724 and Naomi, his wife dated 1741. Lettering within panelled framing, comparable to Manor House hall. Source: R.C.H.C. Dorset I, p. 28(1).
Listing NGR: SY3990999978
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 104565
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset, (1974), 28
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 19:30:41.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.