2$ 2 SOME DORSET CHURCH TOWERS. 



belfry windows are coupled, each of two lights except to stair- 

 turret side, which has a single window a transom dividing 

 them in the centre, the heads above and below are cinque- 

 foiled, with two trefoil abatement lights and pointed arches 

 over. There are several loopholes to the staircase turret, whilst 

 this also is crowned by a very elaborate collection of pinnacles 

 and a finial. The interior is quite plain, and in this respect 

 resembles the body of the church. St. Peter's Church tower at 

 Dorchester is also good ; but it is much like others in the 

 neighbourhood. 



This series cannot be at all representative without the beautiful 

 tower of Beaminster Church in West Dorset. It is nearly 

 100 feet high, containing eight bells, a clock, and chimes. The 

 top and the sides were anciently ornamented with pinnacles, 

 those on the top being entirely destroyed at the Reformation or 

 during the Civil War ; and age has made great havoc with the 

 rest. These have now been replaced, and, though they have a 

 new appearance compared with the old work, add considerably 

 to the effect. In 1503 a legacy was given towards building 

 this tower. It is easily the most interesting feature of the 

 building, and, from the manner in which the ornaments have 

 been applied to every available point, it constitutes a very rich 

 and pleasing object. About eight feet from the ground, and also 

 higher up, it is encircled by a band of quatrefoils and other 

 tracery. The upper storey is lighted on all the cardinal points 

 by a pair of pointed windows of two lights each, divided by a 

 central pier, at the foot of which is a small pinnacle, the 

 shaft set anglewise rising from a corbel placed in the centre of 

 the stringcourse which marks the stage. The buttresses are 

 very highly ornamental features. Where the lower stages are 

 exposed to view, the faces are cut into niches with crocketted 

 canopies. Grotesque animals crouch upon the slopes of the two 

 lower set-offs, from the backs of which arise small crocketted 

 pinnacles, and the upper stages terminate pyramidically with 

 crocketted finials rising above the top of the parapet. The tower 

 when erected had no less than 38 of these pinnacles disposed in 



