Church of St Mary
CHURCH OF ST MARY, MAIN ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1172426
- Date first listed:
- 16-Aug-1960
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, MAIN ROAD
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:
- 2005-07-31
- Reference:
- IOE01/11705/08
- Rights:
- © Mr Trevor Fenwick. 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:
- 1172426
- Date first listed:
- 16-Aug-1960
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, MAIN ROAD
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 MARY, MAIN ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Compton Abbas
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 86910 18463
Details
ST 81 NE COMPTON ABBAS WEST COMPTON (main road)
10/103 Church of St Mary 16.8.60. GV II
Parish church, 1868. By George Evans. Snecked rubble and ashlar with ashlar dressings. Tiled, gable-ended roof with stone copings. Plan: nave, chancel, south tower/porch, south aisle, north vestry/organ chamber. In the 'Early English' style. Tower/porch: buttressed; not divided into stages; 2 centred moulded arch with shafted jambs and stiff-leaf capitals surmounted by label with head stops; ashlar vice turret to west; lancet with label having head stops above; arcaded bell openings each face having 3 arches the outermost of which are blind; broachspire with gablets. Other windows mainly lancets with labels having carved stops. West window of 3 graduated lancets. South chancel window has 2-centred head and plate tracery. Vestry has an octagonal stack and a west door with shafted jambs. Interior features: moulded 2-centred chancel arch with marble shafted jambs having carved capitals, label with carved stops; 2-bay, 2-centred arcade with flat soffits and plain jambs, massive round central pier with carved capital; vestry/ organ chamber arch is segmental pointed with flat soffits and jambs: 4-bay nave roof sub-divided by sub-principals; main principals have arch- braced collars with king-posts and struts and spring-from corbels; sub- principals are scissor-braced and spring from wall-plates; quadripartite, ribbed stone vault to chancel springing from marble vaulting shafts with carved capitals and corbels, apsidal end to chancel; C12 circular font with foliate scroll decoration, recut C19, on cylindrical pier with square base; C19 wooden font with shafted arcading on stone base; C19 pews; trefoiled rere-arches; C17 brass wall memorial to Thomas Lawrence; C19 and C20 glass. (RCHM Dorset, vol IV, p 13, no 1. Pitfield, F P, Dorset Parish Churches A-D, Dorset Publishing Co 1981, pp 196-8. Newman J and Pevsner N, The Buildings of England: Dorset , Penguin, 1972, p 159).
Listing NGR: ST8691018463
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 102945
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historic Monuments; Inventory of Dorset Vol 4, (1972), 13
Pitfield, FP, Dorset Parish Churches, (1981), 196-198
Pevsner, N, Newman, J, The Buildings of England: Dorset, (1972), 159
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 28-Jun-2026 at 05:58:57.
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.