Chelborough, West

28 CHELBOROUGH, WEST (C.c.)

(O.S. 6 in. XXI, S.W.)

West Chelborough is a small parish 4½ m. N.E. of Beaminster. The church is the principal monument.

Ecclesiastical

(1) Parish Church of St. Andrew stands near the middle of the parish. The walls are of local rubble with dressings of the same material; the roofs are covered with stone slates. The E. part of the S. wall of the Nave may date from the 12th century, but its thickness is the only evidence of this. The Chancel and the rest of the nave were rebuilt in the 15th century when the latter was extended to the W. The South Tower was added in 1638. The chancel is said to have been rebuilt in 1751. The church was restored early in the 19th century and again in 1894 when the North Vestry was added.

The font and the Kymer monument are noteworthy.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (14½ ft. by 11 ft.) has a modern E. window and modern windows in the N. and S. walls; in the N. wall is a modern doorway. The chancel-arch is also modern.

The Nave (34 ft. by 14½ ft.) has in the N. wall an early 15th-century window of two trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with moulded reveals; this was formerly the E. window, reset in 1894. In the S. wall is a 15th-century window, probably altered in the 17th century and now of two pointed lights with tracery in a two-centred head with moulded reveals; the 15th-century S. doorway has chamfered jambs and rebuilt two-centred head. In the W. wall is a modern window.

The South Tower (6½ ft. square) was built in 1638 and is of two stages with a plain parapet and pinnacles. The ground stage forms a porch and has, in the S. wall, a doorway with moulded jambs and elliptical head. The bell-chamber has one loop-light in the S. wall and two in the W. wall. A panel on the S. parapet bears the inscription "William Lardar Esq. Thomas Horsford Warden 1638".

Fittings—Bells: two; 2nd uninscribed, probably old. Font (Plate 14): tapering cylindrical bowl with five bands of ornament, conventional leaves, cable, diaper, zig-zag and small dog-tooth, late 12th-century. Monuments: In nave—in N. wall, (1) to a member of the Kymer family, freestone recess and effigy (Plate 87); round-arched recess with enriched mouldings and strapwork soffit, spandrels with shields-of-arms, cornice with damaged recumbent female figures, strap-work apron on wall below recess; effigy of woman represented in bed with infant at her side, early 17th-century. In churchyard—on stone in S. wall of nave, (2) to Alexan der Wellman, 1678, and Christian, his wife, 1682–3, and another, illegible; S. of nave, (3) to Richard Swayne, 1713, and Margaret, his wife, 1680, table-tomb, with arcaded sides. Plate: includes a cup of 1573, with two bands of engraved ornament, and a paten of 1720. Royal Arms: In nave—on S. wall, Hanoverian arms before 1801. Sundial: On E. face of tower—rectangular slab with gnomon, 17th-century, reset.

Secular

(2) Chelborough Farm, house 80 yards S.S.W. of the church, is of two storeys with attics. The walls are of rubble and the roofs are covered with stone slates. The W. wing was built in the 16th century and the E. wing in the 17th century; the central part of the house was rebuilt in the 18th century. The original wing retains some stone-mullioned windows with labels, and the ground-floor room has an open ceiling with original moulded beams forming sixteen panels. The E. wing retains some 17th-century stonemullioned windows with labels. The ground-floor room has a 17th-century open fireplace. There is also a doorway with an oak frame and four-centred head.