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~ St.Peter, Dorchester ~ |
| Found in the middle of Dorchester, St
Peter's Church is the last of three medieval churches in the town to
survive. Built in the perpendicular style most of the church dates
from the 15th century, however inside the porch is a reset 12th
century Norman doorway and decorated in the characteristic zig-zag.
Inside there is the South Aisle and Hardye Chapel, Chancel with
reredos in memory of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. |
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The North Chapel houses the
organ and the tombe of Sir John & Lady Williams (1628). The Nave
has four bays and a wagon roof. The Lectern, made in 1856 has four
buttresses with an evangelist on each. At the east end of the North
Aisle is a 17th century oak bible box. The Tower houses eight bells
cast between 1734 & 1750 by T. Bilbie. Under the tower are three
royal coats of arms together - |
| - with several British Legion Flags
representing Dorchester's past as a garrison town. Judge George
Jeffreys held his notorious "Bloody Assize" at the
Antelope Hotel in 1685 sentencing 292 local men to various degrees
of punishment for their treachery. Of these, 218 men were deported -
the remaining 74 were hanged in the town and their heads were
impaled on the railings of St Peter's Church as a grim warning
against treason. In 1834 the new trades union movement was in the
news with the trial of 6 agricultural workers who later became known
as the Tolpuddle Martyrs. |
| Copyright © 2000
Richard A. Derrick |
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