St Nicholas' Church Windows - Studland, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset
Posted by: Dragontree
N 50° 38.575 W 001° 56.989
30U E 574254 N 5610643
Some bright stained glass windows in the ancient church of St Nicholas in Studland village.
Waymark Code: WM4TA4
Location: Southern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/27/2008
Views: 16
The main east window depicts the nativity scene and is the biggest in this little church. The other windows are all single light and show various figures including Joseph, Mary, Nicolas and Victor Mortis.
St Nicholas church dates from the 12th century and was built on the foundations of an earlier Saxon one.
The following website (
visit link) describes the church:
'There are many churches where the base of the tower is Norman and the upper floors Early English or later. The guide books almost invariably claim that the tower was 'rebuilt' by later generations.
Looking at St Nicholas', Studland and other similar churches ( Damerham in Hampshire, for instance), I'm not so sure. Perhaps the majority of Norman churches looked like this, and 'full-height' towers were the exception. After all, the towers had a role in defending church property, and there would be little to gain by being too tall or too visible.
The rest of the church, apart from the porch, is also almost entirely Norman. It would appear that the church was rebuilt by them on the site of a Saxon church destroyed by the Danes in the ninth century, as there is some evidence of earlier Saxon walling in the north and south walls of the Chancel .
Strange to think that almost all English parish churches probably once looked like this, before being 'modernised' in the trendy Gothic style by later generations.'