St Mary's Church, also known as St Mary the Virgin, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

church in Fordington, Dorchester,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was built in 1910–12 for a cost of £11,500. The church became

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1975, while its gate piers have also been Grade II listed from that time. Historic England describe St Mary's as "large and lavish" with a "high quality finish". Newman and Pevsner described it as architect

Charles Ponting Charles Edwin Ponting, F.S.A., (1850–1932) was a Gothic Revival architect who practised in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Career Ponting began his architectural career in 1864 in the office of the architect Samuel Overton. He was agent for Meux br ...

's "magnum opus". The church is largely built with

Purbeck Marble Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. It is a variety of Purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least Roman times as a decorative building stone. Geology Strat ...

, with some facings and window surrounds in

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

. It was designed to accommodate 750 people.

History

St Mary's Church was built in 1910–12 to replace an earlier one of timber and corrugated iron, known as the Tin Tabernacle, which had been erected at the Top O'Town in 1896–97 to serve West Fordington, during a time when the population of Dorchester and its suburbs was increasing significantly. Fundraising for a permanent church began in 1901 and Charles Ponting drew the plans in 1907. In 1907, disagreements over the church's location emerged between the parishioners and vicar of West Fordington and the

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...

John Wordsworth John Wordsworth (1843–1911) was an English Anglican bishop and classical scholar. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1883 to 1885, and Bishop of Salisbury from 1885 to 1911. Life H ...

: Bishop Wordsworth opposed building at the site of the Tin Tabernacle, believing that the new church would be better positioned further south. After a rearrangement of parochial boundaries, the bishop and West Fordington came to an agreement in 1909 and Mr. J. Foot donated a new site in memory of his father. On 21 April 1910,

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury (31 August 1869 – 25 March 1961), was the son of the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Harriet Augusta Anna Seymourina Chichester (1836 – 14 April 1898), the daughter of the 3rd M ...

, laid the foundation stone of St Mary's; the church was consecrated two years later, on 11 July 1912. St Mary's succeeded Christ Church as the parish church of West Fordington in 1929.

References

External links

Dorchester & The Winterbournes Team Ministry website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Dorchester Churches in Dorset Grade II* listed churches in Dorset Church of England church buildings in Dorset