Church of St Mary, Sixpenny Handley. Grade: II*, NGR: ST 99556 17304. Lead author: PS
The village is situated on Cranborne Chase ten miles north east of Blandford Forum. The name is the amalgamation of two Hundreds, Sexpena and Hanlega. However until quite recently the village was called Handley.
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There may have been a church in the village in pre-Norman times but the first recorded incumbent, was Nicholas de Longespee 1277-1280 who went on to be Bishop of Salisbury. A war memorial in Corallian limestone is situated immediately outside the church gate (1). A Shaftesbury sandstone pinnacle, probably from 19th century refurbishments, can be seen set in the boundary wall on the north side of the churchyard (2).
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1. The war memorial
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2. A pinnacle from the tower now set into the boundary wall
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3. A view of the church from the north west
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The church (3) stands in an elevated position on the north side of the village. The chancel and parts of the nave date from 1350 when the church was a much smaller building. The north aisle was added in 1831 and the south aisle between 1876 and 1878 when extensive rebuilding took place. This included rebuilding the 14th century tower, moving the porch, built around 1450, to its present position and adding a vestry to the north side of the chancel. Three main building stones have been used – knapped flint, Shaftesbury sandstone from the Upper Greensand and Corallian limestone. The roof is tiled.
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The Exterior
The walls of the north and south aisles (4, 5) and vestry are built of Shaftesbury Sandstone and flint set in a banded pattern. A row of Corallian limestone blocks can be seen immediately beneath the eaves. The windows are Corallian limestone. The vestry has a large rose window in Corallian Limestone on the north side (6). The south aisle buttresses are Corallian limestone with inset flints but the north aisle buttresses are Shaftesbury Sandstone and Corallian Limestone.
4. The north aisle wall
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5. The south aisle wall
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6. The north wall of the vestry
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The tower (7) is also built of Shaftesbury Sandstone and flint set in a banded pattern (8). The west window is Corallian limestone (8) but the other windows are Shaftesbury sandstone. The diagonal buttresses are Shaftesbury sandstone and Corallian limestone.
7. The tower
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8. The west window in the tower
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9. The south wall of the chancel
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The walls of the chancel are set in a chequered pattern of flint and Shaftesbury Sandstone (9). The two windows and the doorway in the south wall are mainly Shaftesbury Sandstone but have repairs in Corallian limestone. One window has part of a prayer dial inset (10) which is Corallian limestone. The window in the east wall of the chancel is Shaftesbury sandstone (11).
10. The prayer dial in a window on the south wall of the chancel
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11. The chancel east wall
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The south porch is made entirely of large blocks of Shaftesbury Sandstone and has an unusual roof in that the buttressing continues as raised bands across the roof a (12, 13).
12. The south porch
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13. The east side of the south porch
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An inverted capital re-used as a stoup, dating probably to the 12th century, is set in the porch wall (14). The 15th century interior doorway is Shaftesbury Sandstone (15).
14. the stoup made out of a disused capital
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15. The inner door of the porch
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The interior
The interior (16), in terms of stonework is disappointing. The walls are painted brick. The north and south arcades, and the chancel arch are plastered and painted with 20/21st century masonry paint. The chancel arch has decorative stone shafts of a grey coloured stone which was not identified (17, 18)
16. The interior from the west end
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17. Shafts in the Chancel arch
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18. Loupe of the stone used in the chancel arch shafts
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The 19th century stone pulpit has also been painted (19). The 12th century font is Purbeck Marble (20, 21).
19. The painted pulpit
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20. The font
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On the north side of the chancel is a 14th century Shaftesbury sandstone window which was originally an exterior window but now looks into the vestry (22).
21. Purbeck Marble in the font
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22. The original window on the north side of the chancel
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References
1) Hill M., Newman J., Pevsner N. (2018), The Buildings of England, Dorset, Yale U. Press, p.559-560
2) https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol5/pp64-72
3) https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/sixpenny-handley-and-pentridge-east-dorset-dorset
1) Hill M., Newman J., Pevsner N. (2018), The Buildings of England, Dorset, Yale U. Press, p.559-560
2) https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol5/pp64-72
3) https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/sixpenny-handley-and-pentridge-east-dorset-dorset
