SS. Mary and Bartholomew, Cranborne, Dorset

Description

The parish church of SS. Mary and Bartholomew (once attached to a monastery, founded about the year 980), rebuilt in 1252 in the Perpendicular and Early English styles, the fine specimen of a Saxon arch which forms the main entrance to the north porch being the only bit of the previous church incorporated in the present building, consists of chancel (rebuilt, in 1875), nave, aisles of six bays, north porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 8 bells, 2 of which were added in 1890: the church has a very fine warren roof, and the pulpit is a good specimen of rude oak carving reputed to be the work of Abbot Parker (ob. 1421) : the wbole of the oak screen, with the figures and all the other carvings in the church, except the pulpit, was done by the late Rev. F. H. Fisher, vicar here from 1888 to 1910, to whose memory a window was placed near the side altar in the year 1910: the west window is a memorial to Edward Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester 1689-1700, who was born here in 1635, and there are other memorial windows to the late John Tregonwell esq. d. Oct. 12th, 1885, and the late Henry Francis Brouncker esq. 1897; and in the north aisle is a fine monument (repaired by the Earl of Malmesbury in 1817) to Sir Edward Hooper and family: three frescoes were discovered in the church in 1898; the church has been restored at a cost of £700, and affords 450 sittings.

Church Records

The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1602. 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).