Baptism Font - St Mary - Iwerne Minster, Dorset - Stone Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

An octagonal font with slightly tapering sides, each side with a quatrefoil. It has a plain octagonal stem and hollow-chamfered base, dating from the 15th century.

"This Norman church dedicated to St. Mary was built on a slight rise towards the eastern part of the village and possibly over an earlier structure. Work started in about 1100 AD when the quarrymen and masons were drafted-in. The workmen would have lived in the village for some years during the build. Much of their original work survives, bearing witness to their skills. Take special note of the pillars of the nave arcades with scalloped capitals, the depressed church arch, the north chapel with its pair of narrow deeply splayed windows, the round arches of the north aisle and its west window, all the work of these early craftsmen. The transitional pointed arches of the south aisle may be of the same date. Conveniently, at the time the church was being built there was a quarry directly opposite the site, but it has long since been filled-in.

The walls of St. Mary’s are of flint and rubble with ashlar dressings; the roofs are stone-slated and tiled. The nave, north aisle and north transept are of the mid 12th century and, says the RCHM, “they appear to be parts of an important church”. It is thought the original church was cruciform in plan and probably had a south tower. Late in the 12th century the south aisle was added on the west of the presumed south tower. Early in the 13th century the north transept was rebuilt. The chancel, west tower, south and west walls of the south aisle and the south porch are all of the 14th century. The tower is 60 feet in height, buttressed on three sides and crowned by a battlemented parapet. William of Wykeham was a great builder of churches and in 1361 was prebend for Iwerne in Shaftesbury Abbey. It is thought he may have promoted the building of the tower."

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