Churches in the Village

Community: Churches

There are two churches in our Parish - All Saints Church and Pamber Priory. They are part of the Sherbornes with Pamber united benefice parish, formed in 1976.

https://swp.churchbuilder.org.uk/

The Rector of the parish is Rev. Stewart Deering.

His contact details are: stewart.deering@sherborneswithpamber.org and 07359 717577
Stewart also sends out a weekly email to members of the church congregation. To receive this weekly email, please contact:swppcc@gmail.com

Both All Saints and Pamber Priory have a service once a month on Sundays:
All Saints is 9.30am on the first Sunday of each month
Pamber Priory is 9.30am the third Sunday of each month.

The St Andrews service is filmed and available on You Tube for those not able to attend church in person YouTube Sherbornes with Pamber - Click and wait - it takes some seconds to load

All Saints Church

All Saints Church lies to the south of the village and is a Grade 1 listed building, constructed of flint with a clay tile roof and a tile hung bell turret. The building itself is an exceptionally complete Norman building (1140) but there is evidence that there was probably an earlier structure in Anglo Saxon times.

Particular features of the church are:

The Porch, added in the 14th Century but the beautiful Oak door is earlier & probably 1140-1150
The West window was created in the 19th Century and feature Queen Phillipa in the centre, who was Patron of Queens College Oxford, with her husband King Edward III on the left and her chaplain Robert de Eglesfield, another founder of the college on her left. At one time All Saints was owned by the college as Pamber Priory still is.
The pulpit was added in 1651 and the date is carved into the entrance by the carpenter who made it.
The font is a deep stone bowl, with almost vertical sides, upon three of which are carved faces (one dates from 1230) but the pedestal and cover are later, added in 1887
The Pews – still in use today, date from the 16th Century!
In 1852, the distinguished Victorian architect G.F.Bodley installed a superb panelled and painted roof in in the Chancel, encased the organ casing and choir stalls.

The long unbroken list of vicars over the last 800 years, attests to the independence of the Church, even during the reformation. There is a Plaque on the wall behind the door with all the names and dates, which makes fascinating reading. The Rector is Rev. Stewart Deering.

The five church bells were refurbished in 2014, funded by the village. Two of the bells are dated 1595 and 1653. The latter is remarkable having been commissioned under the time of Oliver Cromwell 1653 – 1658, who went on the ban the ringing of Church bells. The other three bells were from the 19th Century.

Bell ringing practice takes place here on Thursday evenings.

It is thought that Jane Austen may have worshipped in the church as her invalid brother lived in what is now called Apple Tree Cottage and is buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard.

Interestingly, Parish records show that most of the fathers of children baptised in All Saints during the 18th Century were farm Labourers, in the 19th Century they worked on the Railways and in the 20th Century they worked in the City. What will the 21st Century show?

For a full History of the Church, see the Church website: www.sherbornesandpamber.org

Pamber Church

Pamber Priory church showing the 12th Century Tower and the remains of the nave wall on the right. Unusually, It is also is the site of a oak encased grave of a Crusader Knight or medieval monk, in the church itself. It is unusual in its size, indicating someone of great height.

Pamber Priory lies a little way to the Northwest of the village, near the Priory School. It was originally called West Shireborne Priory or Sherborne Priory in the 11th Century.

It was originally on land owned by the De Port family who came over from Normandy with William the conqueror and in 1110 Henry De Port, his son applied for permission to build a Benedictine Priory as a daughter establishment to the Priory of St Vigor at Cerisy-la-Foret (founded in AD590) in Normandy, for the purpose of saying prayers for all the de Port family and the family of King Henry I; permission was granted in 1125. The Benedictine Priory of West Shireborne (now known as Pamber Priory) was consecrated by William Giffard the Bishop of Winchester (the capital of England at the time) in 1128.

From 1250-1270 the Priory was at its zenith – being very wealthy and well run with many expensive and valuable possessions. It was much used by King Henry III and his Queen (Eleanor of Provence) maintained lodgings at the Priory. Thus, major re-building was carried out 1245-1265 being the current chancel and significant other building, including permission to fell an oak tree in Pamber Forest -a Royal Hunting Forest, for the making of windows in the Queen’s chamber at Pamber Priory).

The Priory came to be owned by Queens College Oxford through Queen Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III, but as everything in history it had many ups and downs.
The Priory still remains in the possession of The Queen’s College in Oxford bound by the Order in Chancery dated 1564.

For a full History of the Church, see the Church website www.sherbornesandpamber.org