Historic Churches in Dorset

St Nicholas is a late 14th-century church with a 15th-century tower. Look for the 12th-century effigy of an abbot in the porch, an 11th-century carving set into the west tower wall, and a Tudor pulpit showing a pair of musket ball holes from a Civil War skirmish.
Church Street, Abbotsbury, Dorset, England, DT3 4JT

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Heritage Highlight: 11th-century carving on the tower
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St Mary's is a late medieval building with a superb 15th-century tower, decorated with grotesque carvings and statues of saints. Look for the memorial to Sir George Strode (d. 1753), by Peter Scheemaker, the same sculptor who created Shakespeare's memorial in Westminster Abbey.
Church Street, Beaminster, Dorset, England, DT8 3BA

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Heritage Highlight: George Strode memorial, 1753
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St John the Baptist, Bere Regis, is one of the finest country churches in Dorset and is full of historic interest. It seems likely that there was a church here in Saxon times, but the present building was begun around 1050 AD. Over the subsequent centuries that Saxon church was rebuilt and remodelled into a very pleasing mix of styles.
Southbrook, Bere Regis, Dorset, England, BH207HQ

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Heritage Highlight: Superb 15th-century nave roof
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The church of St Peter and St Paul was built after a devastating fire destroyed most of central Blandford Forum in 1731. It is a superb example of a Georgian town church in classical style, with a wealth of 18th-century memorials and a beautifully decorated interior.
Market Place, Blandford Forum, Dorset, England, DT11 7AD

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Heritage Highlight: 18th-century interiors
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A country church, yet close to Bridport, Holy Trinity has its roots firmly in the medieval period. There are two churches in Bothenhampton; this is the Old Church, which fell out of use after a new church was built by ES Prior in 1889. Indeed, for a short time, the chancel of the old church was used as a mortuary chapel.
Old Church Road, Bothenhampton, Dorset, England, DT6 4BP

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Heritage Highlight: Early 18th century oak reredos
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St Mary's church was built around 1300 by the monks of Cerne Abbas to provide a place of worship for the villagers. It boasts 14th-century wall paintings and stained glass, a beautifully carved Jacobean pulpit, and 17th-century memorial brasses to the Notley family.
Abbey Street, Cerne Abbas, Dorset, England, DT2 7JQ

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Heritage Highlight: 14th-century wall paintings
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There are no wonderfully historic features in the simple parish church at Chalbury; no ancient font or recently discovered medieval wall paintings. What you will find instead is a very pretty, almost completely unaltered Georgian interior. It is that unaltered Georgian state that makes Chalbury so interesting.
Chalbury, Dorset, England, BH217EY

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St Mary's is a beautiful medieval church beside the River Cerne, with a striking 15th-century tower. Look for the ornate memorial to Grace Pole d. 1638) and a pair of beautifully carved 16th-century tombs in the south aisle.
East Hill, Charminster, Dorset, England, DT2 9RD

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Heritage Highlight: 1638 memorial to Grace Pole
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St Mary's stands in an idyllic estate village in Cranborne Chase, near the 18th-century mansion of Chettle House. The tower is 16th century but the rest is a Victorian rebuilding of an earlier medieval church. Look for memorials to the Chaffin family of Chettle House.
Chettle, Dorset, England, DT118DB

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Heritage Highlight: Memorial to Thomas Chaffin, 1691
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St Edward's is a 13th-century church at the base of the imposing medieval fortress of Corfe Castle. The church is said to stand on the site where King Edward the Martyr's body was hidden after his murder by his mother-in-law Aelfrida in AD 978. During the Civil War, Parliamentary soldiers stabled their horses in the church.
The Square, Corfe Castle, Dorset, England, BH205EZ

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Heritage Highlight: 13th-century heart casket lid
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