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 State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church in Fordington, Dorchester,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

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 the Meu ...

'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 S ...

, 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 Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

. 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 (officer), 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 Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...

, John Wordsworth: 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 an English peer, soldier, and public servant. He was the son of the Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Harri ...

, 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