st john the baptist, symondsbury
Symondsbury Church stands in the centre of the village, and was probably built on the site of an earlier one. The date of its construction is not known, but the first Rector of whom there is a record came in 1325.
The Church was originally Gothic but the pillars are Perpendicular.
The Tower was the earliest part of the present building to be erected, and it is probable that it superseded an earlier Tower. The whole of the Tower was erected during the latter half of the Fourteenth Century. The walls of the lower stage are three feet thick, while those of the next stage are increased in thickness by an ingenious ‘corbelling’, and arches over these.
In the North and South Transept there are Hagioscopes or Squints – that is spyholes through which the congregation in the transepts could see the priest at the altar. It will be noticed that the view through the Squints does not now reach the Sanctuary – evidence that the Chancel has been lengthened.
The Transepts, Nave and Porch were certainly erected during the Fifteenth Century. The roof over the Nave is a Fiftenth Century barrel roof. It has seven bays each divided into four compartments with moulded purline ridges and transverse ribs and wall plates with shields and carved bosses. The framework of wood was made at West Bay by the shipwrights there. The South Porch is Fifteenth Century, square and battlemented with gargoyles in the cornices, the outer doorway is pointed with three mouldings, the inner doorway is chamfered. On the South Porch wall, there was, until recently, a famous old mass dial. The whole of the ancient stone roof coverings have been removed, and large blue slates of uniform size substituted.
The Choir Stalls are of special interest and value to Symondsbury people – the whole of the carvings, with the exception of four panels in the Clergy stalls were executed by amateurs within the Parish, namely Rev. C.F.L. Sweet, Mr. Sidney Cookson, and Mr. Ernest Hutchings and are therefore irreplaceable.
Rev. G. Sweet was drowned whilst punting at Oxford, August 7th, 1919, the day following his wedding, aged 29 years.
The Font was formerly the property of the Bedfordbury Chapel in St. Martin’s Lane, London.
st john the baptist, symondsbury
Symondsbury Church stands in the centre of the village, and was probably built on the site of an earlier one. The date of its construction is not known, but the first Rector of whom there is a record came in 1325.
The Church was originally Gothic but the pillars are Perpendicular.
The Tower was the earliest part of the present building to be erected, and it is probable that it superseded an earlier Tower. The whole of the Tower was erected during the latter half of the Fourteenth Century. The walls of the lower stage are three feet thick, while those of the next stage are increased in thickness by an ingenious ‘corbelling’, and arches over these.
In the North and South Transept there are Hagioscopes or Squints – that is spyholes through which the congregation in the transepts could see the priest at the altar. It will be noticed that the view through the Squints does not now reach the Sanctuary – evidence that the Chancel has been lengthened.
The Transepts, Nave and Porch were certainly erected during the Fifteenth Century. The roof over the Nave is a Fiftenth Century barrel roof. It has seven bays each divided into four compartments with moulded purline ridges and transverse ribs and wall plates with shields and carved bosses. The framework of wood was made at West Bay by the shipwrights there. The South Porch is Fifteenth Century, square and battlemented with gargoyles in the cornices, the outer doorway is pointed with three mouldings, the inner doorway is chamfered. On the South Porch wall, there was, until recently, a famous old mass dial. The whole of the ancient stone roof coverings have been removed, and large blue slates of uniform size substituted.
The Choir Stalls are of special interest and value to Symondsbury people – the whole of the carvings, with the exception of four panels in the Clergy stalls were executed by amateurs within the Parish, namely Rev. C.F.L. Sweet, Mr. Sidney Cookson, and Mr. Ernest Hutchings and are therefore irreplaceable.
Rev. G. Sweet was drowned whilst punting at Oxford, August 7th, 1919, the day following his wedding, aged 29 years.
The Font was formerly the property of the Bedfordbury Chapel in St. Martin’s Lane, London.