St. Mary, Lytchett Matravers, Dorset

Description

The church of St. Mary is an ancient building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 6 bells; a vestry and organ chamber were added in 1876 and the chancel was restored in 1873; there is a canopied altar tomb of Purbeck marble, with matrices of former brass effigies, and 4 memorial brasses, one of which is in memory of Thomas Fuller Toovey, in whose memory also the bells were rehung: one of the old brasses fixes the date of the rebuilding of the present edifice in 1505: there are 220 sittings.

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1656. The original register books are now deposited with the Dorset Archives Service, but have been digitised by Ancestry.co.uk and made available on their site (subscription required).