118 NOTES ON DORSET "RESTORED" CHURCHES. 



The church at Woodlands was built in 1892 from designs 

 by Mr. G F. Bodley, R.A. The bowl of the font of the 

 ruined church at Knowlton has found a resting place here. 



WITCHAMPTON. (Hutchins III., p. 474; D.F.C., Vol. 

 XXXV., p. xxix.). 



Only the Perpendicular tower of the old church is now 

 left. The south transept was rebuilt in 1832 ; the chancel, 

 nave, and north transept in 1844. In 1898 (Architect, Mr. 

 C. E. Ponting), the church was refloored with wood blocks, 

 and the chancel and sanctuary were raised and tiled, the 

 high pews were removed and the west gallery taken away, 

 the organ chamber was built and the pulpit lowered, the 

 small oaken table was replaced by a long altar slab of marble, 

 and the bowl of the old font, which had been doing duty as a 

 trough for cattle, was restored to its proper use. 



A gargoyle on the tower shows a figure playing the bag- 

 pipes. It has suggested the enquiry whether this was at 

 that period a church musical instrument in Dorset. 



WIMBORNE ST. GILES. (Hutchins III., p. 578). 



When, in 1732, the parishes of Wimborne St. Giles and 

 Wimborne All Saints were united, the old church of St. Giles 

 was pulled down and a completely new church built upon the 

 former site. In 1887 the interior was restored, under the 

 direction of Mr. Bodley, when by the introduction of piers 

 and arches the church was divided into a nave with north 

 and south aisles. It was cleverly contrived that, whilst the 

 exterior was Georgian, the interior presented the appearance 

 of a Gothic church. 



^ The whole of the interior of the church was destroyed by a 

 fire which broke out on the roof of the tower at midnight on 

 September 30th, 1908. The present church, which is con- 



