2 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF S. MARY AT CERXE. 



monks found a village and church tliere in the loth centur}-, we 

 have no means of deciding. All that we can say is that from the 

 13th century onward a separate parish church of S. INIary has 

 supplied the villagers of Cernc with a spiritual home ; and this 

 we are able to read from the fragments of history told us in the 

 old walls of brown stone described in the following pages. 



Early English Work. — It would seem probable that at Cerne, 

 as was commonly the case in England, there was for the first 300 

 or 400 years one Church, used in common by both monks and 

 people. As time went on many cases are recorded in which a 

 certain part of the building became a monastic quire, and 

 another part was reserved for the use of the parishioners— as in 

 the case of the neighbouring Church at Sherborne. But some- 

 times it was considered desirable to build a separate Church, to 

 which the monks (or the secular congregation, as the case might 

 be) should migrate and permanently attach themselves. 



Such an occasion evidently arose at Cerne, most likely in the 

 13th Century — a period marked by many new departures in 

 conventual building ; the era of the erection of the great 

 Church of New Sarum. A lofty chancel 19ft. wide, and still 

 possessing a pair of large lancet windows of well-marked E. E. 

 character at S. ^Mary's, belongs to this period. 



Thenceforward, for some 200 years, no traces survive of any 

 further building upon the parish church. Abbots who were 

 lords of manors had plenty to do with their money in meeting 

 the demands made upon them for military service, according to 

 the terms of their feudal tenure. During Richard I.'s time, and 

 again in 1277, 1282, and 1297, Cerne was called upon to provide 

 soldiers and munitions of war. This leaves a peaceful interval — 

 in the " Inglorious Reign " of Henry III. — when sundry wants, 

 perhaps long felt, might begin to find material fulfilment in the 

 shape of new buildings. We may safely then suggest the years 

 1250 — 1277 as including the date of the new departure at Cerne, 

 and the founding of its parish church. From this time it may 

 be assumed that the two branches of service were entirely 

 separated, the Monastic Offices and Liturgy being performed in 



