English Heritage sites near Beaminster Parish
WINTERBOURNE POOR LOT BARROWS
10 miles from Beaminster Parish
A 'cemetery' of 44 Bronze Age burial mounds of varying types and sizes, straddling the A35 main road.
KINGSTON RUSSELL STONE CIRCLE
11 miles from Beaminster Parish
A late Neolithic or early Bronze Age circle of 18 fallen stones, on a hilltop overlooking Abbotsbury and the sea.
THE NINE STONES
11 miles from Beaminster Parish
Now in a wooded glade, this small prehistoric circle of nine standing stones was constructed around 4,000 years ago and is surrounded by a mysterious air. Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows are nearby.
ABBOTSBURY ABBEY REMAINS
12 miles from Beaminster Parish
Part of a monastic building, perhaps the abbot’s lodging, of Benedictine Abbotsbury Abbey, Henry VIII ordered its destruction during the Dissolution in 1538. St Catherine's Chapel is nearby.
ABBOTSBURY, ST CATHERINE'S CHAPEL
12 miles from Beaminster Parish
Set high on a hilltop overlooking Abbotsbury Abbey, this sturdily buttressed and barrel-vaulted 14th-century chapel was built by monks as a place of pilgrimage and retreat.
SHERBORNE OLD CASTLE
14 miles from Beaminster Parish
Built on a grand scale in the 12th century by the Bishop of Salisbury, Sherborne was coveted by churchmen and noblemen alike giving it a long, chequered history. Picnic, shop, light refreshments.
Churches in Beaminster Parish
Beaminster: St Mary of the Annunciation
Church Street
Beaminster
Dorset
01308 862320
http://www.beaminsterteamchurches.org
The Beaminster Area Team Ministry covers 50 square miles of beautiful rural West Dorset and consists of 14 individual parishes plus the chapel in the grounds of Mapperton House. Our worship shows a wonderful variety of styles ranging from services from the Book of Common Prayer to the child-centred Messy Church, with music a vital part of our activities.
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There has been a church in Beaminster since Saxon times, although no one knows exactly where it was. The present truly magnificent building, set slightly above the little town it serves, rests upon a site where once a Norman structure stood.
Outside the most distinguishing feature is the superb tower of about 1500, which has been described as 'one of the glories of the West Country'. It has 41 'crocketted' pinnacles, which make the pinnacles appear to be standing free of the tower, while each actually rests on a springer stone sculpted to form devils or mythical animals.
The most attractive chancel screen is by H. Read of Exeter and installed in 1913. The Jacobean oak pulpit of 1619 is all that remains of the original triple-decker. Now mounted on wheels, it can be moved around the building at will. There is a good example of stairs that would once have led to a rood loft extended across the chancel arch.
The present clergy vestry was once a mort house, dating from 13c, where bones that had been dug up in the graveyard were stored.
The font is Norman. It was thrown out by the Victorians in 1863, but found in a stone mason's yard and returned in 1927. (Not the only example see Kimmeridge and Chaldon Herring). The lectern is modern and made at Beaminster School. Among the monuments are two fine examples to the Strode family.
Pubs in Beaminster Parish
Greyhound
11 The Square, Beaminster, DT8 3AW
(01308) 863783
palmersbrewery.com/pubs/greyhound/
Knapp Inn
Free house on Western approach to town, consisting of a single split-level bar. Premises have been run by present licensee for nearly 25 years.
Red Lion Hotel
14 The Square, Beaminster, DT8 3AX
(01308) 862364
theredlionbeaminster.co.uk/