Listed Building record MDO9565 - Church of St Mary, Sixpenny Handley

A parish church with chancel and south porch of fourteenth-century date. The rest of the building was rebuit or added in 1877. An early medieval font and tympanum of around 1130-50 are inside the church.

The Church of St. Mary, rebuilt in 1877, retains a 14th century chancel and south porch. The font and a capital used as a stoup in the porch indicate a 12th century building. <2> Church of St Mary. The plan consists of a C14th chancel and south porch, the rest comprising the west tower, north and south aisles, north vestry and north organ chamber were rebuilt or added in 1877. <3> A panel reset in the north wall of the north aisle shows a seated figure of Christ in majesty, of ca 1130-50. Badly damaged. Judging from its size, this would originally have formed the centrepiece of a tympanum. Allowing for the framing, such a tympanum would have been larger than any other in Dorset, and it is unlikely that it was intended for a church of the status of Handley. <4> There have been suggestions that the church originated as a minster on the grounds that it had been a separate parish before its annexation to Iwerne Minster in 1327. However, while the church controlled a large area, most of it was part of the estates of Shaftesbury Abbey. <5>

Record last edited

Sep 7 2022 4:53PM