North Wootton

Photo © Chris Downer North Wootton: former parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, 2000. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence

North Wootton is a hamlet and civil parish, situated approximately 1.5 miles southeast of Sherborne. It is sited on a narrow band of Cornbrash limestone, with Oxford clay adjacent to the southeast and Forest Marble to the northwest. In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 50.

The church (left), formerly a chapel of ease to Sherborne, was entirely rebuilt in 1883 at a cost of about £1,000, defrayed by the late G. D. Wingfield-Digby esq, and is a building of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a bell-cote over the vestry containing one bell. The church is now a private dwelling.

On the north side of the hamlet overlooking a tributary to The Cam, about 120 yards north-east of North Wootton Farm stands the remains of the old parish church of St Mary Magdalene with its associated churchyard (see right). The tower dates to the 14th or 15th century. The tower survives to full height of approximately 10m, has three storeys, is roofless with diagonal buttresses and is 3.5m square in plan. The nave walls were largely dismantled in 1883 and the stone re-used to build the new church.

Photo © Becky Williamson Remains of St Mary Magdalene Church, North Wootton, 2016. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence

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Photo © Mike Searle Chantry Cottage North Wootton, 2007. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence