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Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset
OS Map Grid Ref: SY680926
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The large Norman minster which is now the Parish Church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and dates from the 12th century although it stands on the site of an earlier saxon Church, part of which is incorporated within its structure. It still retains not only many of its original Norman features. The pinnacled tower was built in the 15th century by Sir Thomas Trenchard, as was the South Chapel.
Charminster is one of only six rings of ten bells in the county of Dorset and attracts many visiting ringers and peal bands. The beels are remarkeable in having three augmentations in the twentieth century; the original ring of five bells was cast by the Purdue family of Closworth in Somerset. It was increased to six in 1933, eight in 1961 and to ten in 1981.
In 1988, the pre-Reformation 7th was rehung for chiming and replaced by a new bell as part of a long-term plan of improvement and augmentation financed by the ringers which has seen some of the bells retuned and rehung on metal headstocks. The 9th was recast at Loughborough in 1867 and the tenor, dating from 1661, at Whitechapel in 1952. The 8th, dated 1631, was recast in Loughborough in 1961 but the sixth remains much as it was in 1663. The fourth was the gift of Herrison Hospital.
The Tower
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The tower is unusual in that the monogram of Sir Thomas Trenchard, its builder, abounds upon it; for durability, the two monograms on the lowest stage are inlaid with lead. |
The 15th-century Tower is in three stages; built of Ham Hill stone on a base of Purbeck stone, with seven gargoyles and surmounted by battlements. The turret staircase is in the north-west angle of the tower and is terminated by eight small pinnacles. There are crocketed pinnacles at the corners and in the middle of each side at the top of the tower. The belfry windows are filled with pierced stone panels and, on the north side of the tower, the left-hand pair look like a series of grotesque masks.
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Ninety-two uneven stone steps ascend the tower in a tight spiral. The clock chamber is housed in the second stage of the tower beneath the belfry. The clock is suposed to have been made at nearby Cerne Abbas c.1700 and was rebuilt in 1896. |
The tower is surmounted by a flag staff and a weather vane, the metal of which is pierced with "T*S 1744 ". The lead of the tower roof bears the inscription "T. Green & R. Cains Church=Wardens 1830 ". The names of the churchwardens R. Dymond and J. Warren, 1896, appear on the roofs of the south aisle and nave. Further west on the roof of the south aisle, the name of the builders at the time of the restoration "Merrick and Son, Glastonbury, 1896 " was visible before the roof was releaded.
The South Porch
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The porch dates from the 16th century with an arch which was reconstructed in the 17th century. the parapet wall possesses two 16th century gargoyles and a corbel with the Trenchard monogram which supports a modern cross. Between the cross and the east gargoyle is a faint scratch-dial. |
Above the porch a dignified ecclesiastical chimney of the 1890s rises from the roof of the south aisle - now deprived of its funtion, it survives as an architectural feature. |
CHARMINSTER, Dorset
DORSET
Towns & Villages of Dorset
INTRODUCTION