The Church of St John the Evangelist, Milborne Port
Milborne Port is a village of great antiquity and so too is its parish church. A marvel of ecclesiastical evolution, that dates from Saxon times right through to the present, St John’s presents a veritable epitome of a parish church that has meant all things to all people in all centuries.
The nave was almost completely rebuilt between 1867 and 1869. It was made longer by 28 feet and more lofty, as can be seen by the stone course above the west central arch, indicating the height of the old roof, and wider by the addition of the north aisle. The north transept was built at the same time.
St John's boasts a fine Harrison organ which was dedicated in 1912 in memory of a former vicar, the Reverend Charles Hubert Payne, and cost around £800. It is a two-manual and has 17 speaking stops and 872 pipes. The carved case was made from oak taken from the belfry. On the south wall hang two boards giving the Ten Commandments in lettering by Ralph Beyer. The stained glass is by Clayton and Bell, whose work may be seen in many churches. Most of the old furniture and fittings must have been removed when the nave was rebuilt –with the exception of the 12th century font of Purbeck marble with its 17th century cover.
In the north aisle hangs a board with the arms of Charles II dated 1662 and high up in the north transept are four hatchments, three of them of wives of the Medlycotts (an influential family who once lived in Milborne Port).
The south doorway is Norman but was extensively restored in 1843. Near this door there is a 14th century stoup in a mutilated condition.
The Crossing is one of the oldest parts of the church. All four original piers of the tower arches survive together with the north and south arches; those at the east and west were replaced in the 14th century by pointed arches – no doubt this was to strengthen the structure because of the weight of the tower. The capitals are unusual and one of the most interesting features of the building; those of the west arch and the west part of the north arch are stone while the remainder are of plaster. The plaster work is so good that it is probably original rather than restoration. The fine coffered ceiling was inserted in the fifteenth century when a fourth stage was added to the tower. It was probably at this time that a ringing chamber was constructed and the tower ceased to be a ‘lantern’. The rood screenis of the same date as the ceiling; it retains its doors and on its west side the coved canopy which formerly supported the rood loft and its crucifix. The text ‘Where the word of the King is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou ?’, taken from Ecclesiastes, was probably added after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
The South Transept is of tall and narrow Saxon form but was rebuilt in 1843. It has an oak panelled waggon roof with carved paterae under which are heraldic emblems and angel corbels bearing shields together with well-moulded wall plates. It retains one or two early features including the narrow round-headed window on the West side. Below the south window is an arched recess containing an early fourteenth century female effigy, and there is a piscina in the south wall.
The Chancelis almost certainly Saxon. Remains of the original windows may be seen in the south and north walls, the latter having been originally an exterior wall. In the 13th century two windows (early English) were inserted in the south wall and in the 14th the south east window (decorated) and the priest's doorway. The east windowis of the same period but with stained glass by Bainbridge Reynolds (1908). There are two recesses of different widths in the east wall. No doubt they held statues until petulantly destroyed (the stone canopies were hacked away, though leaving traces of original paintwork) by the Puritans. For a long time the niches were empty but they are now filled with two striking modern sculptures. These were made by John Skelton of Hassocks, Sussex, in 1972.
The piscinain the south wall with iron hooks still in place may have been used as an aumbry. The plain kingpost roof has a handsome panelled and painted ceiling over the sanctuary dating from 1908. High up on the sanctuary walls are some curious plaster medallions of a type usually called ‘parget’ work, which were made by casting plaster in shallow moulds and applying the cast to the wall while the surface was still wet and adhesive. The communion rail (1967) was made by Mr J A Cross in the art metal workshop at King Arthur's School, Wincanton. The stanchions show symbols of the bread and wine and two emblems connected with St John, the eagle and the lamb. The oak rail was made in the carpentry shop at the same school. Mr Cross also made in wrought-iron the chandelier in the south transept, the altar cross and candlesticks, the pennants on the tower pinnacles and the paschal candle stand.
The North Chapel is now linked to the chancel by an arcade of two bays of late Medieval character, but the Vestry minutes speak of the removal of a wall in 1841. This chapel thus appears to have been originally a separate building and may have been the chantry which the Commonalty supported. Its lean-to roof is modern but at the end of the central beam, although not discernible from the ground, is a shield inscribed "I.C. 1641", and the old bier is dated 1697. At the end of the nineteenth century this chapel was used for an organ and as a choir vestry. Beneath it is a burial vault of the Medlycott family.
More recent developments
The interior of the church was extensively re-ordered during the incumbency of Prebendary Edmund Digby Buxton (1954-1974) to meet contemporary needs for worship in the light of the "parish communion movement". The organ was moved from the south transept to the western-most bay of the nave (in which it was found to fit, just!)
The choir stalls (previously filling the crossing) were moved alongside and a nave altar (from the parish church at Furnham, Chard) installed in the space thus made available. The font was moved from the north-west corner of the nave to its present position (just west of the north transept), and the dark oak stalls and desks in the chancel (put in as part of the 1908 restoration by Sir Walter Tapper) relocated elsewhere and replaced by chairs. The chancel altar and the pulpit were redecorated and the stained glass removed from the south window in the south transept to improve the lighting of the crossing.
The overall effect of these changes was to open up the church, to provide three alternative places for worship and prayer according to the needs and numbers, and to make the church the bright, colourful and inviting place that it is.
More recently pews have been removed from the back of the nave on the south side to improve the circulating space at the west end of the church and enable the congregation to gather for coffee after Sunday morning services.
Exterior
In the south nave wall of the Nave the fine doorway inserted by the Normans is preserved, although much restored in 1843. Notice the tympanum with two quaint beasts, framed in a band of scroll foliage, and the capitals on either side. This doorway was heightened in the rebuilding and provided with an outer order and weathering above to afford shelter in the absence of the porch which was demolished at this time. The door itself was restored in 1996 by John Taylor, a local craftsman. Between the doorway and the corner stairway is a fifteenth century window.
The structure of the tower is of interest, for the lowest stage, against which the roof gables abut, is mainly of rubble fabric like that of the chancel, while the next stage above is of Norman ashlar fabric with traces of round-headed arcading on its north face. The Norman stair turret which is built into the angle between the nave and the south transept points to a pre-Conquest date for the main structure of the crossing, because the Normans were well able to provide a spiral staircase within the fabric of the tower and the probable reason for their providing a separate turret here is that they took over an existing tower without a stair, added their own storey to it and at the same time added the stairway as a means of access to it. The present uppermost belfry stage is a further addition of the fifteenth century. Note the unusual diamond pattern setting of the stonework in the lower stages.
The South Transept was rebuilt in 1843. There is an original window in the west wall. The south window is of late thirteenth century but the tracery has been renewed; it retains its cusped rose arch. The east window is modern but set in an early arch visible within. A massive buttress between transept and chancel was added in the fourteenth or fifteenth century to support the tower.
The south wall of the Chancel is the oldest and most striking feature of the fabric, with its remains of pilaster and lintel design in its two stages with horizontal string course and carved caps. In the thirteenth century the elaborate stonework was disturbed by the insertion of two windows, one a single light and the other a pair at different levels, and in the next century a three-light window. The east window was inserted in the fifteenth century and to this period belong the vestry and the north chapel. In the east wall of the vestry are two small reset twelfth century windows, presumably removed from the original north wall of the chancel. Both the vestry and the north chapel are ashlar faced. Floodlighting of the church (installed in 1993) was a gift of Milborne Port Football Club.
The Bells
By the early seventeenth century there was a peal of six bells which were recast in 1736. This was increased to eight by the gift of Sir William Medlycott in 1846 (and No. 8 recast in 1858). After a period of forty years during which the Bells could be chimed but not rung, owing to the condition of the frame and mounting, they were re-hung in a new oak frame (and the tower repaired) in 1908. The tenor bell weighs nearly one and a half tons and the combined peal over five tons. There was evidently a keen spirit of competition among the bell founders, Bilbie of Chewstoke, Knight of Blandford and Cockey of Frome, for an inscription on one of the bells reads: "Come here! friend Knight and Cockey too. Such work as this you cannot do". On another bell is inscribed "Thomas Bilbie made all we."
The Churchyard
The present churchyard is considerably larger than it originally was. In 1854 Sir William Medlycott gave 1 rood 13 perches of land to the east to add to it and in the following January a number of trees were planted, including those round the new Medlycott vault (where seven Medlycotts were interred between 1879 and 1966). This land was consecrated on 28 April 1855. When the old vicarage to the northwest of the church was demolished (about 1872) its site, including the garden, was incorporated into the churchyard. It was, however, never consecrated and hence there have been no burials there. It is now known as the Church Lawn. The village War Memorial was erected in 1921 on part of this land.
The churchyard contains a number of old tombs including six surviving chest tombs. The earliest of these is one of two south of the nave. They bear inscriptions in memory of several members of the Prankerd family, the earliest of whom, Thomas Prankerd, died in 1609. His tomb (now a listed monument) also records details of the charity he founded and the augmentation by James Prankerd in 1699. This charity still exists and in 1992 the assets of three other parish charities were transferred to it.
Other chest tombs include, to the north, those of the Pettman (from 1679), Scott (from 1688) and Shepherd (from 1806) families and, to the south west, Raymond (from 1686). A more modern memorial south east of the church is that on the grave of Mrs Emma Raymond Pitman, a local authoress, among whose 25 works is "Memorials of the Congregational Church, Milborne Port" (1883). There are also memorials to Thomas Ensor and Silas Dyke, the principal glove manufacturers of the town.
In the North West corner of the churchyard stands the mortuary, built at the time of the enlargement of the church and containing parts of the old fabric. These include the doorway, the niches on either side of it, the sculptured face above and the round windows within borders. Although still known by its old name, the building now serves as a shelter for the mowers used by the team of volunteers who look after the churchyard. Nearby is a blue Atlantic cedar planted by Bishop E B Henderson in 1966 as part of the nine-hundredth anniversary celebration of the church.
Between the mortuary and Church House (built late 19th century) is an archway, the top of which is a stone with some gothic lettering in the soffit of the arch. The origin of this is not known.
As you look at St John's you see a living building. It has been adapted and has evolved down the centuries to suit the needs of our predecessors, and that process continues today, as it rightly should. You see a place in which the people of God have for over one thousand years gathered to give praise and thanksgiving to God their Maker and Redeemer; to pray in times of celebration or crisis; to celebrate a baptism or marriage, or to commend a loved one to God's mercy and protection.