^5 SOME DORSET CHURCH TOWERS. 



is a strange word to use when applied to a chancel about the 

 size of an average dining room, but, nevertheless, that is the 

 impression one obtains. Considerable settlements that have 

 appeared in the chancel arch have been strengthened by tie 

 rods. There are some other specimens of Norman work in the 

 neighbourhood, Worth Church being noticeable as containing 

 portions erected in all the Gothic styles. 



Bere Regis possesses a good tower, being rebuilt in the time 

 of Henry VII., and is sixty-four feet high. It is solidly 

 constructed of flints worked in alternate blocks with Purbeck 

 stone. There are buttresses on each face, near the angles, 

 ending with long pinnacles in the upper storey. The whole is 

 surmounted by a plain battlemented parapet and crocketted 

 pinnacles to the four angles. The west window is flanked by 

 niches, the belfry windows being large with depressed arches 

 and open panelling, ornamented by the Tudor rose, and the 

 whole front is a good conception. The interior of the tower has 

 nothing much of interest, and all the other details inside the 

 .building are surpassed by the fine hammer-beam roof of the 

 nave, which has just lately been carefully renovated. 



From Bere to Dorchester one passes through Puddletown. 

 The tower of this church is striking, and very deceptive as to 

 the period of its erection. Authorities have it that it was 

 erected in 1505, although they admit the smallness of the louvre 

 windows. But there are also other points, such as the buttresses 

 built on the angles, that indicate an earlier date. One thing is 

 certain, that it was finished in the Perpendicular period, the 

 mouldings to the embattled parapet and the crocketted 

 pinnacles crowning this, and the staircase turret, so indicating. 

 The turret attached to the tower is very prominent and large, 

 forming the principal feature, particularly as seen from the high 

 road. 



Another tower of imposing appearance in the neighbourhood 

 of Dorchester is at Charminster. Set in a hollow, the church 

 stands well away from other buildings, thereby showing the tower 

 .off to the best advantage. It quite dwarfs the rest of the 



