Listed Building record MDO10948 - Parish Church of Saint Mary, Litton Cheney

Parish Church. Late C14 and C15, restored in 1878, when north chapel built. Coursed and random rubble-stone walls with stone dressings. Slate roofs with stone gable copings to nave and chancel.

Parish Church of St Mary. Late C14th and C15th, restored in 1878 when the North chapel was built. Plan of the West tower, nave, North chancel added, chancel and South porch. The Norman font with cylindrical bowl and enriched cornice and necking has been retooled. <1>

The church had chapels at Ashley, North Eggardon and Coombe. It may have been a minster at the centre of a depleted royal estate. However, the place-name suggests it was a late foundation, and it may simply have been an early manorial estate church which gained minister characteristics through manorial ownership. <5>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 135-6 (Monograph). SDO97.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1964 (Map). SWX1197.

(SY55169072) St Mary's Church [NAT]

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 255 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Hall, T A, 2000, Minster Churches in the Dorset Landscape, 95 (Monograph). SDO10264.

<5> Trevarthen, M, 2010, New Car Park and Welfare Amenities, St Mary's Church, Litton Cheney, Dorset. Archaeological Observations and Recording (Unpublished document). SDO12435.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 884764 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 16 2025 4:04PM