Frome St. Quintin

43 FROME ST. QUINTIN (D.c.)

(O.S. 6 in. XXX, N.E.)

Frome St. Quintin is a small parish 4½ m. W.N.W. of Cerne Abbas. The church and Frome House are the principal monuments.

Ecclesiastical

(1) Parish Church of St. Mary stands in the S. part of the parish. The walls are of local rubble and flint with freestone dressings; the roofs are tiled. There are indications that a 12th-century church existed on the site, but the Chancel and Nave of the existing fabric were built in the 13th century. The North Tower was added in the 14th century, the chancel-arch rebuilt c. 1400 and the South Porch added in the 15th century. The church was restored in 1881, when the S. and W. walls of the nave were refaced.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (19¼ ft. by 13 ft.) has been largely refaced and has an 18th or 19th-century E. window of two cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with moulded reveals. In the N. wall are two 13th-century lancet windows. In the S. wall are two restored windows, the eastern a lancet similar to those in the N. wall; the 17th-century western window is of two round-headed lights, it is set in the opening of an earlier window; the restored doorway, now blocked, has hollow-chamfered jambs and two-centred head. The chancel-arch of c. 1400 is two-centred and of two moulded orders, the outer continuous and the inner dying on to the responds.

The Nave (42½ ft. by 16¼ ft.) has, in the N. wall, two windows, the eastern of the 15th century and of three cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a square head with a moulded label and returned stops; the western window is a 13th-century lancet-light. In the refaced S. wall are two windows, the eastern of the 14th century and of two trefoiled ogee lights with a quatrefoil in a pointed oval above; the 15th-century western window is of one trefoiled light; the 14th-century S. doorway has hollow-chamfered jambs and two-centred head. In the refaced W. wall is a much restored 14th-century window of two lights with modern tracery.

The North Tower (7½ ft. square) is of the 14th century and of two stages, finished with a later embattled parapet. In the N. wall is a much restored doorway with a segmental-pointed head. In the S. wall is a restored and reset doorway, partly of the 12th century; the segmental-pointed arch is chamfered and springs from moulded late 12th-century imposts. The bell-chamber has, in the E., N. and W. walls, a window of one trefoiled ogee light with pierced stone filling; in the S. wall is a window of one square-headed light.

The South Porch has been refaced but retains a 15th-century outer archway, two-centred and of two orders, the outer chamfered and continuous and the inner moulded and springing from attached shafts with moulded and embattled capitals and moulded bases.

Fittings—Altar: In chancel—of Purbeck marble, repolished and with five recent crosses, mediæval. Bells: two, inaccessible, but 1st said to be by Thomas Bilbie of Cullompton, 1782, and 2nd to be from the Salisbury foundry, early 16th-century and inscribed ‘Ave Maria’. Brass: In chancel—to Jude Collant, 1684, inscription only, on coffin-lid following. Coffin-lid: In chancel—tapering slab of Purbeck marble with incised cross, 13th-century. Font: of Purbeck marble, octagonal bowl with two pointed panels in each face, cylindrical stem and chamfered base, c. 1200. Glass: In nave—in N.E. window, quarry with capital M., 15th-century. Monuments: In nave—on N. wall, (1) to George Baker, 1803, and Hannah Baker, 1806, white marble oval wall-tablet with blank shield, by T. King of Bath; (2) to Sarah Knight and Jeremiah Hayne, the mother and brother of Hannah Baker, undated oval wall-tablet, by T. King; on S. wall, (3) to Thomas Bridge, 1793, Mary Devenish his wife, 1833, and other members of the family, wall-monument with shield-of-arms. In tower—(4) to Henry . . ., 1620, broken parts of slab. In churchyard—N. of nave, (5) to Mary, wife of William Ria. le, 1694, table-tomb; S.W. of nave, (6) to Robert Pillard, 17th-century, headstone; (7) to Elizabeth, daughter of Mathew . . ., 1687, head-stone. Plate: includes a cup and cover-paten, the former with band of Elizabethan engraved ornament and the latter with the date 1574, and a paten of 1727 given by John Sutton, rector, in 1730. Table: In tower—with turned and enriched legs and carved rails, mid 17th-century. Miscellanea: Reset in walls of nave, round head of 12th-century window, 12th-century corbel carved with a muzzled bear's head, two moulded 16th-century brackets and damaged carved bracket. Reset on porch, mediæval corbel carved with two heads.

Secular

(2) Frome House (Plate 120), 150 yards W. of the church, is of two storeys and attics; the walls are of brick and the porch is of tooled ashlar; the roofs are slate-covered. On the porch is the name and date, G. Baker AD 1782; reset in the N.E. wing are two 16th-century two-light windows with hollow-cham fered jambs and moulded labels, possibly from an earlier house on the site; there is a modern addition on the N. The W. front of the 18th-century house is symmetrically designed and has a fluted string at first-floor level, a dentil-cornice and parapet. The three-sided porch in the centre is two storeys in height with canted sides; two free-standing columns with pilasters and enriched entablature support a bay-window on the upper floor; the doorway has a semi-circular fanlight and is flanked by round-headed niches, all with moulded architraves. The window-bay has rusticated walls, fluted frieze and cornice; there are moulded architraves round the windows and shaped brackets supporting the sills. The other windows have flat gaugedbrick arches and key-blocks.

(3) House, 50 yards S.E. of the church, has walls of ashlar, flint and rubble and roofs covered with thatch. It is an H-shape building; the E. wing was built towards the end of the 16th century with a later extension to the S., the cross portion in the 17th century and the W. wing later in the same century; the W. side of the W. wing was refronted about 1800. The E. wing retains in the W. front an original square-headed window of two lights with moulded label. Inside there is heavy exposed timber-framing.

(4) House, on the W. side of the road 230 yards W. of the church, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and brick and the roofs are slate-covered. It was built in the 17th century and retains an original stone window of three lights.

(5) Cottage, 30 yards N. of (4), is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are thatched. It was built early in the 18th century.