Melbury Bubb (St. Mary)

St. Mary, Melbury Bubb

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin can be found on the eastern slope of the wooded Bubb Down next to an Elizabethan manor house. The northern tower - which forms the main entrance to the building - is 15th century and dates from the rebuilding of the church undertaken by the then Rector, Walter Bokeler. The remainder of the church dates from a later rebuilding in 1854. Inside the church is an interesting font that is sometimes assumed to have been adapted from the base of an Anglo-Saxon carved cross. Whatever its precise origin, the font is a tall cylindrical shape and is carved with various animals; the whole scene now being found upside-down. Mee (p. 151) describes it as "the work of some artist far back in time who gave it a vold and handsome circle of hounds chasing deer, with wild beasts preying on each other." Some of the stained-glass in the windows dates from the mediaeval church, described by Mee (p. 150) as "some of the best old glass in Dorset."

Sources:

• Dorset Historic Churches Trust, Dorset Churches. [Dorchester]: DHCT, 1988, p. 34.
• Hutchins, J. The history and antiquities of the County of Dorset, 3rd ed., edited by W. Shipp and J.W. Hodson, Westminster: J.B. Nichols, 1861-1873.
• Mee, A., ed., Dorset: Thomas Hardy's country. The King's England. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939, pp. 150-151.
• Newman, J. and Pevsner, N., The buildings of England: Dorset. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, pp. 272-273.
• Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset, Vol. 1, West Dorset. London: HMSO, 1952, pp. 157-159.

Current church guide (available 2001):

Melbury Bubb.
A four-page illustrated leaflet containing a description of the church and its fittings. It includes a photograph of the font.

St. Mary's Church, Melbury Bubb

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Maintained by Michael Day, Last updated: 29 March 2010.