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Church of St. Thomas, Melbury Abbas. Grade: II* NGR: ST88210 20076 Lead author: PS

The village of Melbury Abbas was originally owned by the nunnery at Shaftesbury. In the 19th century the manor was held by Sir Richard Glyn of the Williams & Glyn banking family, and it was he who built the church of St. Thomas in 1851 on the site of an older church in poor repair. 

The church (1) is built mainly with sandstone quarried from the Upper Greensand in local quarries which are now mainly filled in or overgrown.  The roof is tiled. 
Picture
1. View of the Church
​The walls are ashlar Melbury Sandstone (2, 3) with foundation courses of Shaftesbury Sandstone (4).
Picture
2. A section of Melbury Sandstone wall
Picture
3. Loupe showing Melbury Sandstone detail
Picture
4. Loupe showing Shaftesbury Sandstone

Windows (5), doorways (6) and other dressings are Corallian limestone. The diagonal buttress on the south west corner of the tower (7) illustrates the use of all three stones.  It has lower courses and quoin stones of Shaftesbury Sandstone and an infill of Melbury Sandstone. The string course and carved dressings are Corallian limestone. 
Picture
5. Windows in the south wall of the chancel
Picture
6. The south doorway
Picture
7. Buttress on St.Thomas church

Interior

​Additional information on the interior will be added later as current ‘Virus’ guidelines restricted entry to the church to private prayer.
​

References
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol4/p.47
Hill M., Newman J., Pevsner N. (2018), The Buildings of England, Dorset, Yale U. Press, p.388
Picture
© DORSET BUILDING STONE
and contributors
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Glossary
    • References and Sources
    • Work in Progress
  • Building stones
    • How we study building stones
    • Tertiary (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 >
      • Lower Purbeck >
        • Cypris Freestones
      • Portland Stone - Dorset
      • Chert
      • Kimmeridge Bay Dolomitic Limestone
      • Corallian
      • Cornbrash
      • Forest Marble
      • Fuller's Earth Rock
      • Inferior Oolite
      • Bridport Sands
      • Junction Bed
      • Blue Lias
    • Dorset Bricks
    • 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
    • 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
    • East Dorset >
      • Almer
      • Blandford Forum >
        • Blandford Parish Church
        • Cemetery Chapels
        • St. Leonard's Chapel
      • Bournemouth >
        • Talbot Village
      • Canford Magna Chapel
      • Corfe Mullen
      • Christchurch Priory
      • Cranborne
      • Edmondsham
      • Gussage All Saints
      • Gussage St. Andrew
      • Gussage St.Michael
      • Hampreston
      • Kinson
      • Knowlton
      • 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
      • Lytchett Matravers
      • Morden
      • Stratton
      • The Piddle Valley >
        • Affpuddle
        • Alton Pancras
        • Bere Regis
        • Piddlehinton
        • Piddletrenthide
        • Puddletown
        • Tolpuddle
      • Winterborne Tomson
    • North Dorset >
      • Belchalwell
      • Chetnole
      • Child Okeford
      • Compton Abbas
      • Farnham
      • Folke
      • Hammoon
      • Hazelbury Bryan
      • Holnest
      • Ibberton
      • Iwerne Minster
      • Leigh
      • Mappowder
      • Marnhull
      • Melbury Abbas
      • Okeford Fitzpaine
      • Purse Caundle
      • Ryme Intrinseca
      • Shillingstone
      • Sixpenny Handley
      • Stockwood
      • Tarrant Gunville
      • Tarrant Hinton
      • Tarrant Monkton
      • Tarrant Rushton
      • Todber
      • Winterborne Stickland
      • Winterborne Zelston
      • Woolland
      • Yetminster
    • South Dorset >
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      • Coombe Keynes
      • East Holme
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      • Steeple
      • Studland
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      • Upwey
      • Wareham St. Martin-on-the Walls
      • Wareham St.Mary >
        • St. Martin's-on-the-walls
      • Winterborne Steepleton
      • Wool
      • Worth Matravers
    • West Dorset >
      • Beaminster
      • Bothenhampton
      • Bridport
      • Broadwindsor
      • Catherston Leweston
      • Eype
      • Loders
      • Monkton Wyld
      • Netherbury
      • St. Gabriel’s
      • Shipton Gorge
      • Symondsbury
      • Wootton Fitzpaine
      • Whitchurch Canonicorum
  • Quarries, Pits and Limekilns
    • Abbotsbury area
    • Beacon Limestone Quarries
    • Inferior Oolite
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    • Portesham
    • Kimmeridge Bay
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    • Uplyme Quarries
    • Upwey
    • Whiteway Hill Quarry
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  • Secular Buildings
    • Bindon Abbey
    • Blandford Town Hall
    • Cerne Abbas (village and Abbey)
    • Cranborne Manor
    • Durweston Bridge
    • Ibberton Village
    • Kimmeridge Bay
    • Lulworth Castle
    • Kingston Lacy Exterior
    • Kingston Lacy Interior
    • Moignes Court
    • Non-Dorset Buildings
  • Contact Us
    • Brick Map Demo
  • Search