Church of St Mary

CHURCH OF ST MARY

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1324643
Date first listed:
14-Jul-1955
List Entry Name:
Church of St Mary
Statutory Address:
CHURCH OF ST MARY

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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1324643
Date first listed:
14-Jul-1955
List Entry Name:
Church of St Mary
Statutory Address 1:
CHURCH OF ST MARY

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 MARY

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Iwerne Stepleton
National Grid Reference:
ST 86282 11246

Details

ST 81 SE IWERNE STEPLETON

4/159 Church of St Mary 14-7-55 G.V. II*

Parish church, Cll, largely refenestrated and vestry added C19. Roughcast walls, structure appears to be of flint and rubble with squared rubble dressings. Roof is partially tiled and partially stone slated with stone copings. Plan; nave, chancel, north vestry, south porch. East window is pointed, of 2 lights with Perpendicular tracery, probably C15. The other windows are mainly similar but of the C19. The north wall has a blocked original round headed loop set high up. According to Hutchins there were 8 similar windows in the nave and they may be concealed under the render. North and south doorways have chamfered 4-centred heads and continuous jambs. C19 open timber porch with stone-slated roof.

Internal features (RCHM). The original plan of the church is uncertain. The chancel walls are of great thickness and may once have supported a tower. The east chancel wall has a round headed recess which may be the original sanctuary arch. The arch is of a single order of plain voussoirs springing from chamfered imposts enriched with a pattern of small rectangles enclosing diagonal crosses and pearls. This decoration is original only on the imposts in the reveals of the archway and is elsewhere of the C19. Square, undecorated responds. The present chancel archis round headed and rendered but presumably of the Cll. Chancel to vestry arch is C19. C14 niche in north respond of former east archway has cusped 2-centred head and stop chamfered jambs. C15 piscina with cinqufoil ogee-headed opening in square head. Various C19 monuments including one to Peter Beckford the writer on foxhunting. Monument to Martha Cameron Lindsay of 1921 by Francois Sicard (Newman and Pevsner), marble relief with seated figure. The church is of considerable archaeological interest and it is possible that further early features may be found beneath the rendering. (RCHM, Dorset, vol. III, p.131, no. 1. Newman, J and Pevsner, N. The Buildings of England: Dorset, 1972, p.241.)

Listing NGR: ST8628211246

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
103249
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset, (1970), 131
Pevsner, N, Newman, J, The Buildings of England: Dorset, (1972), 241

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 Mary

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 25-Jun-2026 at 04:24:36.

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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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