Church of St Mary Magdalene, Winterbourne Monkton

The Church of St Mary Magdalene is the Anglican church in the village of Winterbourne Monkton, Wiltshire, England. It is a 19th-century rebuilding of a structure dating from the 14th century.

The Church of St Mary Magdalene

Its history dates from the 12th century, with the vicarage being consecrated before 1229. It was attached to Cirencester Abbey and then Avebury.[1][2] The endowment of the church was considered too small many times during the Middle Ages.[3]

An unusual feature inside the church is two huge tree trunks near the west end which originally supported the bells in the free-standing bell tower.[4] That tower was joined to the chancel by the addition of the nave in the 14th century.[1] The tower contains three bells dating from the 17th century.[3] The church was rebuilt in 1877–9 by William Butterfield and is Grade II listed.[4]

The circular font is from the 12th century,[1] while the pulpit is from the 17th.[4] The font is decorated in a zigzag style with foliage supported by trumpet scallops. On the northern side is a figure with splayed legs. There is some evidence that the font was originally painted.[5] It has been speculated that the figure, which has three horns or a crown, could be an example of a Sheela na gig although several of its features contradict this suggestion.[6]

Parish

The vicarage was united with Avebury until 1865, when it was instead united with Berwick Bassett;[7] in 1929 the benefice was again united with Avebury, although the parishes remained separate.[8] In 1970 Berwick Bassett was added to the union,[9] and in 1975 a team ministry was established for the wider area.[10] Today the parish of Winterbourne Monkton with Berwick Bassett[11] is part of the Upper Kennet benefice within the Diocese of Salisbury, alongside alongside seven other parishes around Avebury.[12]

References
  1. "Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Winterbourne Monkton". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  2. "Winterborne Monkton: St Mary Magdalen, Winterborne Monkton". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  3. "Parishes: Winterbourne Monkton In: A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 12, Ramsbury and Selkley Hundreds; the Borough of Marlborough". British History Online. Victoria County History. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  4. Historic England. "Church of St Mary Magdalen, Winterbourne Monkton (1033812)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  5. "St Mary Magdalene, Winterbourne Monkton, Wiltshire". The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. King's College London. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  6. "Winterbourne Monkton". The Sheela Na Gig Project. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  7. Baggs, A. P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1983). "Parishes: Winterbourne Monkton". In Crowley, D. A. (ed.). A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 12. University of London. pp. 192–198. Retrieved 20 February 2021 – via British History Online.
  8. "No. 33493". The London Gazette. 10 May 1929. pp. 3114–3117.
  9. "No. 45217". The London Gazette. 22 October 1970. p. 11580.
  10. "No. 46524". The London Gazette. 21 March 1975. p. 3845.
  11. "St Mary Magdalen, Winterborne Monkton". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 3 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. "St Mary Magdalene Winterbourne Monkton". Upper Kennet Benefice. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2021.

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