Church of St Stephen

CHURCH OF ST STEPHEN

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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
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Date:
2001-09-28
Reference:
IOE01/05514/01
Rights:
© Mr Harold T. F. Jenkins. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official 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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.

Ordnance survey map of Church of St Stephen

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 18:42:27.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

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.

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