DORSET BUILDING STONE
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Church of St Mary Magdalene, North Poorton. Grade: II, SY 51872 98153. LeadvAuthor:PS

​North Poorton is a hamlet 3 miles south east of Beaminster. The old parish church of St Peter is a ruin, with remaining walls about 1.2 metres high just visible now in the undergrowth.

​Just to the south is the new church (1a, 1b) which was built in 1861–62 to a design by John Hicks at a cost of £1,400.  
Picture
1a The church from the south-west.
Picture
1b. The church from the north-east.
The walls (2) of the exterior are rough tooled Inferior Oolite brickettes from quarries at Nettlecombe about 1.5 miles away. The quarries were owned by the Reverend Thomas Sanctuary who was also responsible for building a church at Powerstock and New Milton and a school in Powerstock.  The roof is tiled. The windows surrounds and south doorway of the porch are Bath Stone (3a, 3b). 
Picture
2. The exterior wall of the nave
Picture
3a. The south porch

Picture
3b. Detail on the south doorway

​The material from which the spire (4) is built was not determined, but through binoculars appears to be ashlar Inferior Oolite. There are Minton tiles on the floor of the porch (5). The inner doorway is also Bath Stone (5).

Picture
4. The spire
Picture
5. The inner doorway

​The interior walls of the nave (6) are ashlar Inferior Oolite with a line of Bath Stone just below window height. The chancel arch (7a) is Bath Stone with a label bearing a decorative religious text. On either side is a suspended decorative column of red Mansfield Stone with leaf pattern carved in Caen Stone above and below (7b). Mansfield Stone is a Permian limestone, Cadeby Formation, from Nottinghamshire.
Picture
6. The interior from the west
Picture
7. The chancel arch
Picture
7b. A side column on the chancel arch

The walls of the chancel are ashlar Bath Stone (8a, 8b). The plinth (9) on which the altar stands is paved with Minton tiles designed by Pugin and has a surround of Purbeck Marble (10).
Picture
8a. Ashlar Bath Stone in the chancel

Picture
9. The altar plinth
Picture
8b. Loupe of the Bath Stone in the chancel

Picture
10. The Purbeck Marble in the altar plinth

​The 19th century octagonal font (11a, 11b) is Caen Stone, a Bathonian (166-168 Ma.) Middle Jurassic limestone from northern France. The font is supported by 8 colonettes of a fine-grained stone which was not identified (12a, 12b). Note: one source quotes the stone as Purbeck Marble which it does not appear to be.  
Picture
11a.The font

Picture
12a The colonettes supporting the font
Picture
11b. Loupe of the Caen Stone in the font

Picture
12b. Loupe of the stone in the colonnettes

Picture
13. The old font


​​There is also an old font (13) at the rear of the nave. The font came from the old church and was in the church for the dedication service as the new font was not ready. It appears to have suffered a time outdoors before being rescued and brought back into the building. It is possibly 14th century but weathering has made it difficult to identify the stone.


​​The pulpit (14a) is Caen Stone with intricate carving by Grassby (14b) and a figure of Christ (14c) by fine-grained of Worcester (1862). On a window sill is a statue of the Madonna and Child which was originally in the church at West Milton (demolished in 1973). It is also carved in Caen Stone (15).

Picture
14a. The pulpit

Picture
14c. The statue in the pulpit
Picture
14b. Carving on the pulpit

Picture
15. Madonna and Child statue

References
1) Hill M., Newman J., Pevsner N. (2018), The Buildings of England, Dorset, Yale U. Press, p.435
 
2) http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol1/pp180-181
 
3) Information on the church notice board within the church.
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)
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    • Jurassic >
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  • Churches
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    • East Dorset >
      • Almer
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        • Talbot Village
      • Canford Magna Chapel
      • Corfe Mullen
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      • Wimborne Minster Exterior Tour
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      • Child Okeford
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