DORSET BUILDING STONE
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Parish Church of St. Magnus the Martyr and St. Nicholas of Myra, Moreton
Grade: II, NGR: SY 80540 89281 Lead author: PS

​Moreton is a village eight miles east of Dorchester and situated on the River Frome.  The Frampton family have been Lords of the Manor here since at least the 14th century. In 1832 James Frampton gained notoriety when, as High Sherriff of Dorset, he arrested the Tolpuddle Martyrs and resurrected a disused marine statute against association to have them transported to Australia. It is also the place where T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) is buried in the local graveyard (1). The simple headstone is Portland limestone (2).
Picture
1. The grave of T.E. Lawrence
Picture
2. Loupe of the Portland stone of T.E. Lawrence gravestone

​
​History
The church in the style of early Gothic Revival was built in 1733 replacing a medieval church but using the same footprint and foundations. The dedication was changed from St. Magnus to St. Nicholas in 1490 but both are used in the official name today. Alterations took place between 1840 and 1848 when the north aisle and the west porch were added and the floor paved with Minton encaustic tiles (3). 
Picture
3. The encaustic tiled floor
​The church sustained a direct hit during the Second World War. The north aisle and arcade were completely rebuilt over the next decade using the original stone where possible. Plain glass was inserted in the windows but gradually this was replaced by beautifully engraved glass made by Sir Alan Charles Laurence Whistler (21.1.1912 – 19.12.2000) starting in 1955 with the five apse windows. The last window was installed in 1984. Photographs of the glass engravings are not included in this account and a visit to the church is recommended.
​The exterior (4, 5, 6)
The main roof is covered with graduated Purbeck stone slabs. All the main stonework for the windows and walls is Portland stone but from different sources or beds.
Picture
4. The church from the north
Picture
5. The church from the south east
Picture
6. The south side of the church

​The walls are ashlar blocks of Portland Freestone from the Isle of Purbeck (7a, 7b). 
Picture
7a. The exterior stonework
Picture
7b. Loupe of the exterior stonework

​The porch doorway (8) and windows are Portland stone from the Isle of Portland (9). There is single piece of carved masonry behind a drainpipe on the west wall (10) (note the graffiti on the pipe in the photograph). 
Picture
8. The west porch
Picture
9. Loupe of the Portland stone used in the west doorway and windows
Picture
10. An oddity

The interior (11)
The north arcade (12), which was rebuilt after bomb damage, has two types of Portland stone. 
Picture
11. View from the west end
Picture
12. The north arcade

​One type is very shelly and similar to Purbeck Spangle (13a, 13b, 13c). 
Picture
13a. Part of a pillar in the north arcade
Picture
13b. Loupe of a pillar 2
Picture
13c. Loupe of a pillar 1

​The other has no visible shell and could be Purbeck Pond Freestone or Inland Freestone (14). The stone on the south side of the interior is also possibly Pond Freestone. ​The font (15) is probably Pond Freestone but has been coated with a clear varnish (16). The plinth is Purbeck Marble (17). The altar step is also Purbeck Marble.
Picture
14. Loupe of a pillar 3.
Picture
15. The font
Picture
16. Loupe of the font Portland stone (varnished)
Picture
17. The Purbeck Marble plinth

References
 1) Hill M., Newman J., Pevsner N. (2018), The Buildings of England, Dorset, Yale U. Press, p.426
 2) An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, pp. 173-178. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol2/pp173-178 
Picture

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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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    • Stone Index >
      • Stone Index A-B >
        • Abbotsbury Ironstone
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      • Stone Index C-E >
        • Caen Stone
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        • Chilmark Lower Building Stone
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        • Chilmark Upper Buiding Stone
        • Clavellata Beds
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        • Clunch
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      • Stone Index F-O >
        • Featherbed Limestone
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        • Forest Marble
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      • 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 >
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      • 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
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  • Secular buildings
    • Athelhampton House
    • Blandford Town Hall
    • Cerne Abbas (village and Abbey)
    • Durweston Bridge
    • Ibberton Village
    • Kimmeridge Bay
    • Moignes Court
    • Non-Dorset Buildings
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