Church of St Mary
CHURCH OF ST MARY, TOWER HILL
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1216095
- Date first listed:
- 11-Nov-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, TOWER HILL
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:
- 1999-10-13
- Reference:
- IOE01/00014/06
- Rights:
- © Mr Ken Venton-Prentice. 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:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1216095
- Date first listed:
- 11-Nov-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, TOWER HILL
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, TOWER HILL
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Netherbury
- National Grid Reference:
- SY 47032 99460
Details
SY 4699/4799 NETHERBURY TOWER HILL
11-11-1966
10/165 CHURCH OF ST MARY
GV I
Parish Church, C14 nave and aisles, with C14/15 chancel, C15 west
tower. South porch rebuilt in 1848. Organ chamber and north vestry
built in 1894. Rubble-stone and ashlar walls. Slate and lead roofs.
West Tower: 3 stages with an embattled parapet. West doorway: moulded
jambs and 2-centred head. West window of 3 cinquefoiled lights with
tracery in a pointed head with a label. 2nd stage: windows with one
trefoiled light. Bell-chamber has window with 2 trefoiled lights and
tracery. Spiral staircase projects in south-east corner. Nave: south
elevation, 4 bays, diagonally buttressed at corners, with 3 3-light
cinquefoiled windows with panel tracery. Chancel: 2 bays, 2 C15 windows
to south and a 4-light C15 west window. South doorway, of same date.
North aisle with C15 buttresses to C14 masonry, and C15 windows.
C14 east window of 3 trefoiled ogee lights in a square head. North
doorway and window over, C20. South porch, in Perpendicular style,
rebuilt.
Interior: Nave arcade of 4 bays, piers with responds and hollow chamfer
in the diagonals, standing on tall bases. 2-centred arches with wave-
sunk quadrant-wave mouldings. Roof, C19 renewal, through-purlin roof,
arch braced, with short king-posts over. Ashlaring at wall-plate.
Chancel roof, similar, though with queen-struts above high collars.
Fittings: Font, Purbeck marble, square bowl with arched panels and
simple foliage spanrels on top. Central, and four subsidiary shafts
with moulded capping and base, late C12. Pulpit: c. 1630, 7-sided,
with fluted Corinthian corners on corbelled-out lion-mask plinths.
2 tiers of decorated arcading (inlaid) to each panel, with egg-and-
dart and rosette ornament. Upper, middle and lower rails with various
ornaments. Fluted trumpet base and short stem. More Monument, south
aisle, late as, canopied tomb of alabaster. Tomb Chest has 6 bays,
each with angel holding a blank shield under an ogee crocketted arch.
Alabaster effigy in plate-armour, head on helm, remains of beast at
feet. Parts of arms and legs broker; Stone canopy with embattled
side-shafts, septfoiled and sub-cusped 4-centred arch in straight
head. Wall-monuments: to Peter Brice, vicar, 1740 (chancel). To
H. Saunders MA., vicar, 1673, stone and marble tablet with Ionic
side columns, entablature, cresting and achievement-of-arms. To
Robert Conway, 1837, marble tablet in stone frame with cornice.
(See R.C.H.M. for fuller list). Piscina: south aisle, with moulded
jambs, trefoiled head and round drain, C13.
Source: R.C.H.M. Dorset I, p 170(1).
Listing NGR: SY4703099464
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 401418
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset I West, (1952), 170
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 08-Jun-2026 at 18:33:30.
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.