© 2023 Buckland Newton Community Website Committee Last updated 25th September 2023 09:20 Website design and update by Jeremy Collins
Holy Rood Church
People have worshipped at a church on
this site since at least the 13th Century,
when the earliest part of the current
church was built. Countless
generations have used this place for
baptisms, weddings, funerals and in
their daily service, worship and prayer.
The Benefice
The parish of Buckland Newton is part of the benefice of Buckland
Newton, Cerne Abbas, Godmanstone and Minterne Magna. The vicar,
Rev. Canon Jonathan Still lives in the vicarage in Cerne Abbas ( Tel:
01300 341 251, cernevicar@gmail.com )
Safeguarding Policy
Holy Rood Church Buckland Newton takes its responsibilities surrounding
the safeguarding of children, young people, and adults who may be at risk
very seriously, and works in partnership with the Diocese of Salisbury to
ensure that we work in accordance with best practice at all times.
Buckland Newton PCC has Safeguarding Policies for Children and Young
People and Vulnerable Adults. If you require a copy of the full policy
statements or if you have any Safeguarding questions or concerns, please
contact the Vicar on 01300 341251 email cernevicar@gmail.com or our
Benefice Safeguarding Officer, Valerie Champion on 07792 182709.
Alternatively you can contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, on
07500 664800 or email heather.bland@salisbury.anglican.org
Services
For the service pattern, please see the Church Services page. You will be
made very welcome at any of our services. Please feel free to visit the
church at any time - it is usually open to visitors or for private prayer from
9.30 am to 5.30 pm.
In the church porch...
A booklet entitled 'A Book of Revelations!' has been produced so that we
can all be aware of what's happening with our Church, and also get to
know some of the villagers who work to keep it going. It's not a bad read!
Please feel free to pop in and get yourself a copy from the porch for £1
donation or not, as you prefer. It's more important that you read it than
donate.
Looking for your ancestors?
A list of the gravestones in the Churchyard (now closed for all burials
except the interment of ashes) and in the separate lower Burial Ground
(near the school) has been compiled by the Online Parish Clerk (OPC)
website at
http://www.opcdorset.org/BucklandNewtonFiles/BucklandNewton.htm and
may also be viewed by clicking on the links to the left. There are also
plans of both the Churchyard (originally prepared by West Dorset DC) and
the lower Burial Ground, and tables cross-referencing the plot numbers on
the Churchyard and lower Burial Ground to the names on the graves.
These again can be accessed through the Graves links to the left and may
contain more recent information. Please note that the cross-referencing of
graves plan in the churchyard and the names on the gravestones is an
ongoing process, as deciphering some of the gravestones is proving time-
consuming. A particularly poignant memorial is the small stone pillar with
four panels, to the north of the church and close to the boundary hedge.
This commemorates 13 local children (the youngest aged 10 months) and
one adult who died in an epidemic of either cholera or typhoid in 1858.
This year was known nationally as ‘the year of the Great Stink’.
Presumably unusually hot weather produced a nationwide epidemic.
The Chancel
"The most notable 13th century building (in central Dorset) is the Chancel
of Buckland Newton, which although restored is sophisticated work for a
village church." (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments). The north
wall and its windows (not the glass) are original, but it is possible that the
south wall may have been rebuilt as it is seven inches thinner. The door is
certainly later, and the walls were probably heightened when the nave was
built. In the 19th century the east window was replaced twice, in 1841 and
1869, and the Chancel re-roofed using the carved corbels which
speculators have confidently identified as Henry III, his Queen, the Bishop
the Lord And Lady of the Manor and the mason! On the north wall of the
Sanctuary is a baptismal robe of about 1650.
The altar and reredos were designed by a Mr Tolhurst of Mowbrays and
dedicated in 1927.
The Church is dedicated to the Holy Rood, or Cross, but the Rood Screen
which once divided the Chancel and Nave has now gone - possibly at the
time of the Commonwealth when James Sparing, Thomas Hall, and John
Weeks were in turn appointed to the parish by Oliver Cromwell, Lord
Protector. The stone stair which led to the Rood loft can be seen on the
north side of the arch and it is suggested the priest used to climb up there
to sing the Gospel, or maybe to preach, before the days of pulpits.
Nave
This is late 15th century. Note the way in which the arch of the north door
(the 'Plush' door) which the people from Plush used to use before they had
a Chapel of their own) has been 'tailored' into the base of the window
above. There used to be a window over the Chancel arch, but the old roof
was higher, and badly designed. There were no tie bars, and it pushed the
walls apart. The south arcade still has a visible lean. The 19th century roof
is lower, and did away with the window.
In the 1878 restoration they renewed the floor, built a boiler house, and
repositioned the font and the entrance door to the room over the porch.
They made new pews incorporating the 15th century oak bench ends,
belonging to seats of "most uncomfortable construction", and they removed
all traces of "a hideous gallery extending the whole width of the Nave and
Aisles at the west and of the Church, and said to contain 120 sittings". The
stonework and plaster were renovated, the lime wash removed, and the
walls distempered.
The pulpit panelling is 18th century, as is the old oak chest. A brass plate
on the west wall commemorates a 17th century ancestor of the Dorset poet
William Barnes (who attended the reopening in 1878). The curious Poor
Box is 16th century and the Font is a Century older still, the same age as
the Nave itself.
When restoring the Nave a century ago, traces were found in the northwest
corner of an earlier Nave, and it has been suggested that the arch leading
into the Tower, off-centre and Decorated rather than Perpendicular in style,
may have been part of it too.
Over the door is set what is perhaps the oldest piece of stone carving in
these parts - 7th or 8th century. It was found in the Vicarage garden in
1926, and is secular rather than religious.
Porch
This is also 15th century, with a chamber above said to have been use by
visiting clergy when the parish was served from Glastonbury. Over the door
into the Church is a 12th century representation of Christ in Majesty
previously set in a niche high on the tower.
Tower
There are six bells in the Tower, two of them from the time when John
Phillips was Vicar. They are dated 1581 and 1609 and replaced an earlier
peal of five. The sixth bell was added when all were re-hung in 1913. All
the bells and mechanisms were overhauled in 2012. The clock is a Jubilee
Clock bought for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It cost £120.
Further information can be found here about the Clock and Bells.
Other Features
The window glass is all modern, but in the Nave good quality quarry glass
set in lead was put in a century ago to replace the cheap domestic panes
that were then there.
The East Window depicting the Epiphany Resurrection and Ascension of
our Lord, is in memory of James Venables (Vicar 1805-1850) (he must
have put in the 'hideous gallery' in 1821; NB not the present organ loft).
The north Chancel windows which show raisings of the dead in Old and
New Testaments are in memory of Arthur Elton, curate, who died of a fever
after losing his way one November evening in 1863 when walking back
over the hill from Plush Chapel. The windows on the south side of the
Chancel show St. Andrew, patron saint of Wells Cathedral and St. Peter
and St. Paul patron saints of Bath Abbey, and are in memory of
Archdeacon Gunning (Vicar 1850-1860). The west window (by Kempe)
under the tower completes the century of clergy glass, showing St. Gabriel,
St. Michael & St.Raphael in memory of Canon Ravenhill (Vicar 1860-1907)
who directed the last restoration and was Rural Dean for twenty-five years
as the brass lectern shows.
Outside, notice the sundial set askew over the Porch and in the
Churchyard several table tombs with inscriptions barely legible some from
the 17th century.
Registers
When it became law that Registers must be kept, John Phillips himself a
public notary was Vicar of Buckland Newton. The Register which he made,
starting with entries for 1568, is a work of art and in fine condition. This,
together with all Registers and Documents relating to the Parish may be
seen in the Dorset County Archives, just below the Public Library car park
at County Hall. There is an interesting volume kept by the clergy in the 19th
century; churchwardens accounts; plans and builders' specifications;
newspaper accounts; Constable's Warrants; tithe papers and the accounts
of the Overseers of the Poor - and many other items.
The War Memorial in Buckland Newton Churchyard commemorates those
villagers who lost their lives in the two World Wars. Recent research has
filled in some of the details of those named and this information can be
viewed here.
Restoration
"The outside of the Church is covered with Roman cement which gives a
very unsatisfactory and unchurchlike tone of colour to the exterior but
judging from the materials with which the interior of the Tower walls are
built I cannot doubt that this was found a necessary precaution against the
driving weather to which this Church is exposed and I should be afraid to
advise its removal." So wrote the Diocesan Architect to Canon Ravenhill in
1864.The removal of rendering from the outside helped to dry out the walls
where moisture had been trapped behind faulty rendering; The Diocesan
Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches in January 1977 strongly
advised replacement of the rendering. In their view the soft rubble with
which the walls were built has always had, and will need to have, a good
protective finish. The process of hacking off and replacing all the defective
rendering has now been completed, finishing with an even, slightly warm
tone which will weather attractively. The interior has also been replastered
and the distemper replaced with a limewash which is the ancient finish
greatly to be preferred on all counts.
The village of some two hundred dwellings would find it difficult to meet the
cost of all this without outside help however economically the work is done.
This is a problem in common with most village churches in the County.
Fortunately, through a most generous bequest by Tom Dibben, all of this
work is now complete. The people of the village continue do their best in a
variety of ways and many social and fund raising events are held to
support the church.
Sources of Information
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Dorset Vo1.3 Pt 1. Hutchins
'History of Dorset'; Mayo 'Buckland Newton Parish Register'; Dorset
Natural History and Archaeological Field Club Vol. X page xxiii, Vol. XXVIII,
page lvi, Vol. X, page 97; Victoria County History, Vol. 2, pages
35,38,142,250; Somerset and Dorset Notes & Queries Vol. XII page 80 and
HOME NEWS Vol.1, page 87. Documents in the Salisbury Diocesan
Record Office.
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