SOME DORSET CHURCH TOWERS. 251 



building, and is very late Perpendicular in character, of Ham Hill 

 stone, toned down by successive seasons to beautiful mellow 

 tints. To the interior the tower is open to the nave, and on the 

 north and south by arches with panelled soffits, similar to 

 those to be seen at Sherborne Abbey. There are four stages 

 consisting of the west doorway and west window above, with 

 depressed arch and tracery, then a small light, little more than 

 a loophole, and lastly two fine two-light windows. These are 

 sub-divided by transoms and are square-headed, with square 

 hood mouldings over. There are two buttresses to each face, 

 near the angles, terminating with crocketted pinnacles and also 

 pinnacles at each angle, and in the centre of each cardinal face. 

 These, combined with battlements, gargoyles, and a stair turret 

 terminating octagonally, with smaller pinnacles at the corners, 

 and finished centrally with a fine finial, form a rich and 

 picturesque object. In the panels of the arches of the interior, 

 and on the face of each stage of the buttresses, monograms, 

 formed of two T's combined, are sculptured, being the initials 

 of Sir Thomas Trenchard, under whose auspices the tower was 

 erected. This tower, as well as the church itself, is well worth 

 studying, and is certainly one of the most effective in appear- 

 ance in the county, as the proportion in design and the work- 

 manship are equally good. 



The tower of Fordington St. George at Dorchester, standing 

 as it does, on an eminence, is visible from a considerable 

 distance round, being eighty feet high, adorned with battlements 

 and pinnacles, and contains five bells and a clock. It is a 

 handsome example of the Perpendicular style, and is of three 

 stages. The buttresses are boldly projecting, set away from 

 the angles, with moulded set-offs at each stage, the upper one 

 being level with the springing of the belfry windows, above 

 which are square pinnacles set diagonally and crocketted. There 

 is a similar pinnacle in the centre of each side rising from a 

 gargoyle or head. The parapet is embattled, the moulding being 

 continuous round the embrasures, and there is a stringcourse, 

 below the parapet, with large gargoyles at the angles. The 



