Milborne Port - Church

Church

The cruciform church of Church of St John the Evangelist is of late Anglo-Saxon date and parts may well span the Norman conquest. The chancellor Regimbald (a survivor from Edward’s reign into William’s) rebuilt his Minster at Milborne Port in “a sumptuous hybrid style.” It would seem logical to assign the now-demolished nave to this period, since the surviving south doorway of the nave was incorporated into the 1860s rebuild and is perhaps of Saxo-Norman design.

However, despite the Victorian nave (almost totally rebuilt 1867–69) and accompanying north aisle, there remains the pre-conquest central tower, part transepts and chancel. The south transept was heavily restored in 1843. The north transept was rebuilt along with the nave, so compared to pre-1867 almost half of the Anglo-Saxon church has now gone.

The new nave is 28 feet (9 m) longer than the original it replaced. The old west front exhibited vestiges of triangular-headed arcading on either side of the inserted Perpendicular west window, and the lower part of the front was divided into compartments, by broad pilasters of plain square section. This was recorded by photography and the photo was published in 1893 by A. Reynolds, who was involved with building the new nave.

The crossing (tower) is wider in plan than the nave, and markedly wider than the transepts or chancel. This is a distinctive Saxon trait, which may also be observed at nearby Sherborne Abbey (where significant traces of the Saxon rubble west wall may be seen, and which include a Saxon doorway in the north aisle). Inside, the four crossing arches with their jambs survive, although the east and west arches have been rebuilt in pointed 14th-century form; the south and north arches have been slightly deformed to elliptical shape due to the pressure of the masonry, perhaps by the addition of the top stage of the tower in Norman times.

The chancel exhibits pilaster strip work, much disturbed and cut by Early English period windows, and has a close parallel at Bradford-on-Avon. The wall thickness of the chancel is 2 ft 8 in (0.81 m), which is a typical Anglo-Saxon dimension. The church, with its Anglo-Saxon features, is of major importance to our understanding of the larger minsters in pre-conquest England.

The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.