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Church of St.Mary, Bradford Peverell. NGR: SY 65803 93031. Lat: 50.735908, Long: ​-2.4859661.
​Lead authors: KJH, PJB.

St Mary's Church was built in 1849-1850 in Early English style by the then Lord of the Manor, Hastings Nathaniel Middleton, to a design by Decimus Burton. It stands in the centre of the village, close to the Manor House (qv). Hastings Middleton was the Lord of the Manor of Bradford Peverell, who despite unsuccessfully attempting to raise the cost by public subscription,  paid almost the entire £1,850 cost himself. The present church replaced a much earlier building dating from around 1391, on the same site.  This structure featured a rather squat tower and a porch of 1552.  Although rediscovered in 1849, sadly there is now no trace of the medieval mural of St George, which, at some earlier stage, had been hidden under plaster. John Hutchins, the celebrated historian of Dorset buildings, was born here in 1698.  He became vicar of Swyre and later, Lady Mary in Wareham.
Picture
1. General view from the east.
Picture
2. Illustration of the original medieval church.

The Exterior

The walls are all of Lower Purbeck Cypris Freestone, some of which is considerably weathered, so it is highly probable that old stone was re-used. The dressings are of Ham Hill Stone. Perhaps the most appealing element is the recently restored spire with two tiers of lucarnes. This is one of the few Dorset churches to possess a spire. The spire is of Portland Stone.

Picture
3. The entrance porch with an arch of Ham Hill Stone.
Picture
4. East end walling of Cypris Freestone.
Picture
5. Weathered exterior block of Cypris Freestone.

Picture
6. Exterior showing Cypris Freestone walling and Ham Hill Stone used for coursing and windows.
Picture
7. Weathered Cypris Freestone.
Picture
8. Weathered Cypris Freestone.

The interior

The somewhat plain interior has interior archways are of Ham Hill Stone, the chancel arch having been whitewashed, which made it difficult to identify. The pulpit is made of Caen Stone, and the font of Portland stone. We examined some of the internal features of the bell-tower and spire, which are also covered below.
Picture
9. The plain interior with box pews looking along the aisle to the western end.
Picture
10. The whitewashed chancel arch was notably all of the same stone, and all of a limited stone bed thickness and of relatively massive stone. Difficult to identify, but probably Ham Hill Stone.

Picture
10. The font. The bowl and straight stem are probably Purbeck Ridgeway stone and the sloping stem and base are Portland-Portland Stone.
Picture
11. The pulpit is of soft yellow Victorian-built Caen Stone.

Picture
11a. East window south pillar; Purbeck Marble, weathering at very bottom.
Picture
11b. East window: tool marked Portland-Portland left of two central replacement pillars.

The bell tower and spire

Picture
12. As at Stratton, Chalk has been used in the internal walls of the bell-tower. Here it dates from the 19th. century with Ham Hill stone dressings.
Picture
13. A whole block of dog-tooth spar (calcite) laid in the symmetrically pointed Victorian Ridgeway stone coursework of the 1st level bell ringer’s tower stage.

The spire of presumed Portland Limestone was rebuilt after a lightning strike in 2000 and it was obvious that the rebuilt section (the top) used larger freestone which looked like Portland Limestone ashlar blocks.
Picture
14. General view from inside the base of the spire.
Picture
15. Zoomed in to show the contrast in construction. Note the difference between the rubbly construction of the lower tower (with occasional, probably re-used Ham Hill Stone) and the post-2000 re-build using Portland ashlar.

Other observations on building stone in Bradford Peverell

As well as the Chalk present in the Church tower there is evidence for the use of it in domestic buildings. The nearest source for the Chalk is probably the large pit at Muckleford, near Quatre Bras. It may of course have come from smaller pits dug elsewhere and now obscured or even from the large quarry above Cerne Abbas.
Picture
16. Chalk block exposed in the walls and hearth of a cottage in the village undergoing renovation.
Picture
17. Closer view of Chalk rubble blocks used in the hearth.

The Manor House opposite the Church was an original stone building, later extended using brick. Prominent in the front facade are pieces of sculpted Ham Hill Stone, probably sourced from the Church opposite during the rebuild in 1850. One assumes that ​Hastings Middleton would have had the pick of these, especially since he was financing the rebuild from his own pocket! We also saw a quoin stone that had marine fossil- shapes that had been replaced by dog tooth spar calcite crystals. 
Picture
18. Stone-built Manor House in Bradford Peverell.
Picture
19. Odd pieces of Ham Hill Stone incorporated in the Manor House.
Text and photos by KJH JT and PJB, May 2018
Picture

© DORSET BUILDING STONE
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  • Home
    • About Us
    • Glossary
    • References and Sources
    • Work in Progress
  • Building stones
    • How we study building stones
    • Palaeogene >
      • Heathstone
      • Sarsens
    • Cretaceous >
      • Chalk
      • Flint
      • Upper Greensand
      • Chert
      • Wealden
      • Purbeck >
        • Upper Purbeck (Purbeck Marble)
        • Upper Purbeck (Broken Shell Lst. aka Burr)
        • Middle Purbeck (Upper Building Stones)
        • Lower Purbeck (Cypris Freestones)
    • Jurassic >
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      • Portland Stone - Dorset
      • Chert
      • Kimmeridge Bay Dolomitic Limestone
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      • Junction Bed
      • Blue Lias
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    • Non-Dorset Stone >
      • Tertiary >
        • Bembridge Limestones - Isle Of Wight
      • Cretaceous >
        • Beer Stone - SE Devon
      • Jurassic >
        • Bath Stone - Somerset & Wilts
        • Blue Lias of Somerset
        • Doulting Stone - Somerset
        • Ham Hill Stone - Somerset
        • Portland Limestone – Wilts (Chilmark)
        • Normandy >
          • Pierre de Caen (Caen Stone)
        • Pas de Calais
      • Triassic: White Lias of SE Devon
      • Carboniferous >
        • Carboniferous Limestones: Polished Black
      • Devonian
    • Building Stone Trails >
      • Devon Trails
      • Somerset Trails
    • Stone Index >
      • Stone Index A-B >
        • Abbotsbury Ironstone
        • Bath Stone
        • Beer Stone
        • Bembridge Stone
        • Binstead Stone
        • Blue Lias Stone
        • Bridport Sandstone
        • Broken Shell Limestone
        • Burr
        • Burton Limestone
      • Stone Index C-E >
        • Caen Stone
        • Carstone
        • Chert
        • Chilmark Lower Building Stone
        • Chilmark Main Building Stone
        • Chilmark Stone
        • Chilmark Upper Buiding Stone
        • Clavellata Beds
        • Cliff Stone
        • Clunch
        • Corallian
        • Cornbrash
        • Cypris Freestone
      • Stone Index F-O >
        • Featherbed Limestone
        • Featherstone
        • Forest Marble
        • Flint
        • Fuller's Earth Rock
        • Grey Chalk
        • Ham Hill Stone
        • Heathstone
        • Inferior Oolite
        • Ironstone
        • Lower Chalk
        • Lower Lias
        • Melbury Sandstone
        • Middle Chalk
        • Middle Lias
        • New Vein
        • Osmington Oolite
      • Stone Index P-T >
        • Portland Cherty Beds
        • Portland Cherty Series
        • Portland Stone
        • Purbeck Marble
        • Purbeck Stone
        • Quarr Stone
        • Rag
        • Sarsen Stone
        • Shaftesbury Sandstone
        • Sherborne Stone
        • Tisbury Stone
        • Todber Freestone
        • Trigonia Beds
      • Stone Index U-Z >
        • Upper Chalk
        • Wardour Lower Building Stone
        • Wardour Main Building Stone
        • Weald Clay
        • White Chalk
        • White Lias
        • Yeovil Stone
  • Churches
    • A-Z of Churches
    • East Dorset >
      • Almer
      • Bournemouth >
        • Talbot Village
      • Canford Magna Chapel
      • Corfe Mullen
      • Christchurch Priory
      • Cranborne
      • Edmondsham
      • Gussage All Saints
      • Gussage St. Andrew
      • Hampreston
      • Kinson
      • Knowlton
      • Morden
      • Pamphill
      • Poole St.James
      • Poole, the Spire Church
      • Shapwick
      • Sturminster Marshall
      • Tarrant Crawford
      • Tarrant Keyneston
      • West Parley
      • Wimborne St.Giles
      • Wimborne Minster Exterior Tour
      • Wimborne Minster Interior
      • Wimborne Minster: Purbeck Marble and Decorative Stone
    • Central Dorset >
      • Bloxworth
      • Bradford Peverell
      • Cerne Abbas
      • Hilton
      • Lytchett Matravers
      • Stratton
      • The Piddle Valley >
        • Affpuddle
        • Alton Pancras
        • Bere Regis
        • Piddlehinton
        • Piddletrenthide
        • Puddletown
        • Tolpuddle
      • Winterborne Tomson
    • North Dorset >
      • Batcombe
      • Belchalwell
      • Blandford Parish Church
      • Blandford St. Leonard's Chapel
      • Blandford St. Mary
      • Blandford Cemetery Chapels
      • Bradford Abbas
      • Chetnole
      • Child Okeford
      • Compton Abbas
      • Farnham
      • Folke
      • Gillingham
      • Hammoon
      • Hazelbury Bryan
      • Holnest
      • Ibberton
      • Iwerne Minster
      • Langton Long
      • Leigh
      • Mappowder
      • Margaret Marsh
      • Marnhull
      • Melbury Abbas
      • Melbury Bubb
      • Pimperne
      • Okeford Fitzpaine
      • Purse Caundle
      • Ryme Intrinseca
      • Shillingstone
      • Sixpenny Handley
      • Stockwood
      • Stourpaine
      • Tarrant Gunville
      • Tarrant Hinton
      • Tarrant Monkton
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      • Portland: Reforne
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      • Wareham St.Mary >
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    • West Dorset >
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      • Chelborough
      • Evershot
      • Eype
      • Loders
      • Monkton Wyld
      • Netherbury
      • North Poorton
      • Powerstock
      • St. Gabriel’s
      • Shipton Gorge
      • Lulworth Castle
      • Stoke Abbott
      • Symondsbury
      • Wootton Fitzpaine
      • Whitchurch Canonicorum
  • Quarries , Pits and Limekilns
    • Active Quarries
    • Abbotsbury area
    • Beacon Limestone Quarries
    • Inferior Oolite
    • North Dorset Corallian
    • Kimmeridge Bay
    • Portesham
    • Portland near Swanage
    • Purbeck near Swanage
    • Shaftesbury Sandstone
    • Uplyme Quarries
    • Upwey
    • Whiteway Hill Quarry
    • Winspit Quarry
    • Non-Dorset Quarries and Pits
  • Secular buildings
    • Athelhampton House
    • Blandford Town Hall
    • Cerne Abbas (village and Abbey)
    • Durweston Bridge
    • Ibberton Village
    • Kimmeridge Bay
    • Moignes Court
    • Non-Dorset Buildings
  • Search
  • Contact Us