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         Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott. Grade: I. NGR: ST 45363 00593.                Lead author: PS

​The church (1) dates back to the 12th century and the building stones used are typical for the area. The walls are built with Middle Jurassic, Inferior Oolite, almost certainly from local quarries at Waddon Hill where quarrying can be dated back to Roman times by coins and pottery found on the eastern part of the hill. Ham Hill stone from Somerset has been used for the windows.  The roofs are tiled. 
Picture
1. The church from the south

The exterior

​The walls of the 12th century chancel (2) are mainly built with coursed rough hewn blocks of Inferior Oolite. A point of interest is that fossil belemnites are plentiful in this older stone and can be seen where spalling has occurred (3, 4). 
Picture
2. The west wall of the chancel
Picture
3. Belemnites in the chancel wall
Picture
4. belemnites in the chancel wall

​There is also some rubble walling on the north side (5). The lancet windows on the north and south sides have been dated to the 12th and 13th century (5). Although not stated in any architectural descriptions, the original Inferior Oolite stone on the exterior of these windows has probably been replaced at some stage by Ham Hill Stone as the stonework is in very good condition and matches the 19th century stone in the other windows. A 13th century window on the south side was probably also originally Inferior Oolite but Ham Hill stone has been used to replace some of the stone (6). 
Picture
5. The north wall of the chancel
Picture
6. The 15th century window in the south side of the chancel

The north aisle (7) and the nave, originally 15th century, were rebuilt in the 19th century with ashlar blocks of Inferior Oolite and new Ham Hill Stone windows were inserted.  
 The 15th century west tower (1) was struck by lightning in 1826. The line of the rebuild in 1828 is evident in the stonework (8). The west doorway in the tower is made of Inferior Oolite with a label and voussoir in Ham Hill Stone (9).

Picture
7. The north aisle
Picture
8. The old and new stonework in the tower
Picture
9. The west door

​The south porch (10), originally added in the 15th century and rebuilt in the 19th century, has an outer wall of ashlar Ham Hill Stone and an inner wall of rubble Inferior Oolite. The outer doorway of the porch is Ham Hill Stone. The 15th century inner doorway is Inferior Oolite (11).
Picture
10. the south porch doorway
Picture
11 The inner doorway in the south porch

References
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol1/pp52-56
Hill M., Newman J., Pevsner N. (2018), The Buildings of England, Dorset, Yale U. Press, p.570
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 >
      • 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 >
      • Devon Trails
      • Somerset Trails
    • Stone Index >
      • Stone Index A-B >
        • Abbotsbury Ironstone
        • Bath Stone
        • Beer Stone
        • Bembridge Stone
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        • Broken Shell Limestone
        • Burr
        • Burton Limestone
      • 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
        • Featherstone
        • Forest Marble
        • Flint
        • Fuller's Earth Rock
        • Grey Chalk
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        • Inferior Oolite
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        • Middle Chalk
        • Middle Lias
        • New Vein
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      • 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
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      • Todber
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      • Wareham St.Mary >
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      • Wool
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      • Bradpole
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      • Broadwindsor
      • Burton Bradstock
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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
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    • Beacon Limestone Quarries
    • Inferior Oolite
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    • Kimmeridge Bay
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    • Upwey
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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
  • Search
  • Contact Us