Parish Church of St Mary
PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY, ABBEY STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1323846
- Date first listed:
- 26-Jan-1956
- List Entry Name:
- Parish Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY, ABBEY STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-08-07
- Reference:
- IOE01/08506/01
- Rights:
- © Mr JE Leeson. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1323846
- Date first listed:
- 26-Jan-1956
- List Entry Name:
- Parish Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address 1:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY, ABBEY STREET
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:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY, ABBEY STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Cerne Abbas
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 66595 01215
Details
ST 6601 CERNE ABBAS ABBEY STREET, (east side)
11/45 Parish Church of 26.1.56 St Mary
GV I
Parish Church. C14 chancel, with east wall rebuilt C17, C15 and early C16 aisle walls south porch partly rebuilt, west tower within the body of the church, early C16. Clearstorey added early C16. Wall above stone screen removed, and existing arch built in 1870, when church restored under T H Wyatt. Recent C20 restorations, nave roof. Stone and flint rubble walls, with some ashlar and freestone dressings. Lead-covered roofs. Chancel extends one bay east of aisles, north wall has single- light window with trefoiled head, C14,and a blocked one in south wall. 6-light east window, C15 reset. Aisles, 5 windows to north aisle, and 4 windows to south aisle, of 3 lights in Perpendicular form, later to west; windowsat east and west ends of aisles, each of 3-lights. West tower, Ham stone ashlar, of 3 stages, with octagonal buttresses, finials and pinacles, string-courses, ornamented to second stage. Entrance to church through west door, Perp. details, standards and image brackets. 4-light west window. Bell-openings, 3-light transomed and with 'Somerset' stone tracery. South porch has a C15 outer archway with moulded jambs and 4-centred head. Panel in the parapet with "C W Willi Tulledge, Tho Dussell, 1696", (date of restoration). Interior: 4 bay nave, with late Perp. piers and pointed arches. Chancel-arch, 1870, formerly solid wall. Roof: formerly of low pitch, with tie-beams and short king-posts, rebuilt without ties, C20. Fittings: Font: octagonal bowl with chamfered under edge, medieval, stem and base modern. Pulpit: oak, octagonal with enriched rails and cornice, sounding board, dated 1640. Stone screen to chancel, 6 lights each side and central doorway, C15. Wall-paintings, chancel, four scenes from life of St John Baptist, Cl4. Cl7 paintings and inscription in north aisle. Monuments and wall- tablets, extensive of Cl7 and C18. For further details of fittings, refer to: (RCHM Dorset I, p74(1). F Pitfield, Dorset Churches A-D, 157-160).
Listing NGR: ST6659301216
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 105370
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset, (1974), 74
Pitfield, FP, Dorset Parish Churches, (1981), 157-160
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 07-Jun-2026 at 13:58:06.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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