Canford Magna - parish church - geograph

The Canford Magna Parish Church in

Canford Magna Canford Magna is a village in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. The village is situated just south of the River Stour and lies between the towns of Wimborne Minster and Poole. The vi ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England – possibly dedicated to

St Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

– is a mixture of

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

and Mid Gothic architecture.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

have designated it a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

During late Saxon times, a small cruciform chapel was built, which is now the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

Between the 12th century and the Dissolution of the monasteries, the church was under the control of the monks at

Bradenstoke Priory Bradenstoke Priory was a medieval priory of Augustinian canons regular in the village of Bradenstoke, Wiltshire, England. Its site, in the north of the county about west of Lyneham, is on a ridge above the south side of Dauntsey Vale. In the ...

. This ended with the dissolution of the priory in January 1539. During Norman times, the church was much expanded, and the north tower was added circa 1180 in a very unusual place – not far enough to the north to be considered a transept, as at

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The presen ...

. The tower contains a ring of six bells, the back five of which are the last ring of bells out of the foundry of William Knight. The treble was added in 1897, to commemorate the

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the Golden jubilee, 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a National service of thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Serv ...

. The back five bells are listed. The tenor weighs and strikes the note F. In the 20th century, the church saw notable developments in British

Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

. In 1971, John Collins, an evangelical minister took over leadership of the church. He was responsible for the creation of a new type of pastoral ministry in the church, reminiscent of the

Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921, originally under the name First Century Christian Fellowship. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. ...

which established some 30 members as counsellors of the church.

Interments

The ashes of Sir Austen Henry Layard (died 1894), archeologist and politician are interred in the cemetery of the church.

Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne, 2nd Baronet, DL (29 August 1835 – 22 February 1914) was a British industrialist and a member of the prominent Guest family. Early life Ivor Bertie Guest was born at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil, the so ...

, was buried in the churchyard in 1914. His wife

Cornelia Guest, Baroness Wimborne Cornelia Henrietta Maria Guest, Baroness Wimborne OBE (née Spencer-Churchill; 17 September 1847 – 22 January 1927) was a British aristocrat and landowner. She was the wife of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne and the mother of their six children ...

was buried here in 1927. Sir Walter Shaw, judge, chairman of the

Shaw Commission The Shaw Report, officially the Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929, commonly known as the Shaw Commission, was the result of a British commission of inquiry, led by Sir Walter Shaw, established to investigate ...

, was buried here on 27 April 1937. The churchyard also contains the grave of Ellis Gawler, a

Royal Air Force Reserve The Regular Reserve is the component of the military reserve of the British Armed Forces whose members have formerly served in the "Regular" (full-time professional) forces. Other components of the Reserve are the Volunteer Reserves and the Sponsor ...

serviceman killed in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

{{coord, 50.7889, -1.9561, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Church of England church buildings in Dorset Grade I listed churches in Dorset