Our parishes
There
are three parishes within The Bridge parishes, Sturminster
Marshall, Kingston Lacy and Shapwick.
Sturminster Marshall, the largest of the three villages, is an ancient parish, united
with Shapwick and Kingston Lacy to form the current
united benefice in the 1980s.
The
village is barely recognizable from that shown here in 1891, at the time of the
incumbency of the Reverend James Cross. In particular the past decade has seen
enormous expansion, with the building of vast new private estates, after great
expansion in the provision of public housing in the 1950s.
Despite
this expansion, Stur remains a village; there is less
social cohesion than there was before, but it remains a lively place in which
to live with an extraordinarily rich cultural, sporting and social life, as
well as immense social diversity. A number of links to village life may be
found on the links page.
The Church
Despite
heavy restoration in the nineteenth century, this ancient minster
church on the
It
is still the meeting place for worship for a lively Christian community,
offering the Eucharist to provide a spiritual heart to the activity and life of
the village. In keeping with our inclusivist vision a
wide variety of worship, seeking to represent the breadth of the Anglican
tradition, is offered. Most importantly the worshippers are engaged daily in
the life of the village witnessing through their lives to the prevenient love of God.
Shapwick
Shapwick is the smallest of the parishes in the benefice, and is still
recognizable from this map of 1891. Socially, however, there have been the
inevitable changes; no longer is every inhabitant concerned with agriculture,
though farming still dominates the economy. Although there is no longer a shop
or a post-office, The Anchor remains open, despite frequent changes of hands
and of style. There are signs of revival in the social life of the village,
largely through the Shapwick Community Trust, which has
managed to provide a playing field and village green.
The Church
St Bartholomew's Church is a
very ancient building, founded on the priory chapel which predates the
Reformation. Although regular congregations are small, the church is packed on
special occasions in the life of the village, and is widely supported. As a
parish church we work in partnership with the Community Trust and others,
bearing witness to faith in the God who became flesh, and continues to bear our
concerns to the heart of God.
Our
parish church is now in its centenary year. We are enjoying a rich programme of
diverse events and are hoping to raise sufficient funds to equip the church
with a new organ. The former instrument was installed second-hand(!)
a century ago and was never adequate. Time has done it no favours and it is now
on its last legs.
The
original St Stephen’s church was built around 1236 by Henry de Lacy of Kingston
Lacy and therefore became the church for all who lived and worked on the
estate. Repairs were carried out in 1439-40 but in 1573 it was reported as
being beyond repair, and, in the sixteenth century, to have burnt down. It was
not replaced, and there is now no certainty as to its exact site.
Some
services were held in what is now the school, or on the green, but the
villagers of Cowgrove and Pamphill
came under the parish of Wimborne and had no nearer
place of worship than the Minster.
The
erection of a new church was frequently suggested in the nineteenth century,
and became possible on the death of Walter Ralph Bankes
in 1905, as a result of a substantial bequest in his will for that purpose. The
new church was designed by C.E. Ponting and built in
the English decorative style during 1906 and 1907, as far as possible using
local materials and labour, and dedicated on
Although
the estate passed to the National Trust in 1982, the church remained the
property of the parish, rather than of the estate or the Diocese and therefore
continues to rely on local support.
Beyond
the building of a church the parish has not changed much outwardly since 1890,
the date of the map here (which does not show the whole parish.)
However,
the transfer of the house from the Bankes
family to the National Trust and the immense changes which have overcome agriculture
in the period have brought about great demographic change. Nonetheless,
although Wimborne to the east has grown vastly,
Kingston Lacy remains a traditional rural parish.
As
in all the Bridge Parishes there is a wide range of worship at the church. The
Book of Common Prayer is still employed for the Holy Communion and for mattins, whereas the third Sunday of the month sees a sung
Eucharist and the second Sunday generally brings something unpredictable,
including favourites such as the Christingle, the
annual St Francistide blessing of animals and regular
healing services. A Sunday school called KLYC (
For
information on the worship, life and witness of our churches in the parishes,
see the weekly notice
sheet, the monthly
calendar and the magazine,
on these web-pages.
There
are many links to pictures of our churches and parishes on the links pages.
