Parish History

Whilst West Moors merits a mention in the 1089 Domesday Book its ecclesiastical history is rather short and not entirely clear.

The word Moor is derived from 'mar' and 'moure' meaning marsh.  There was a low population until relatively recent times; it was the coming of the railway in 1847 that stimulated development of what was until then sparsely populated heathland hamlet and quite marshy at times.  By 1867 the station was promoted from a Halt to a Junction and West Moors was really put on the map.

The school-chapel mentioned by Hutchinson's History (above) was the original 1843 National School and according to the 1896 deeds probably located somewhere a little north of the present church site with the School Mistresses House across Station Road from it. Both these buildings seem to have been demolished, presumably when new buildings were built. Near them, at some time, (across the road from the present church), was a building known as the 'Iron Room' and later maps have this marked as Parish or Church Room. This Church Room was a centre for worship and village meetings and later even for school lunches until it was finally demolished in the 1970's.

On 17th August 1859 a Charity Trust was founded by Deed Poll and partly endowed with a piece of land running along Station Road, probably on the present location of the church, for the erection of a church or school.  This was finally achieved some 35 years later.

In 1872 a West Moors Curate Trust Fund was established through the Parish of West Parley (which originally included all of West Moors Common/Plantation), "to provide for the spiritual necessities of an outlying district known as West Moors". 

The arrival of Reverend Claud Brown at Verwood in 1887 led to an ecclesiastical re-organisation with Verwood being formed from part of Cranborne Parish and Claud Brown being given ministerial authority over the sparsely populated 'Westmoors Plantation'.  Under Claud Brown's patronage a building programme began of church, school, school house and vicarage and he may well have personally funded the various 'Assistant Curates' to help him with Verwood, Three Legged Cross and West Moors - see the list of clergy below.  This was an act of great faith in the future of the village, West Moors having a small and relatively impoverished population of 135 until the steady increase in population triggered by the arrival of the railway.

On January 6th 1896 a parcel of land along Station Road was sold by Sir Frederic William Richards Fryer and his wife, Dame Frances Elizabeth to Trustees, (presumably Claud Brown as Vicar and the Church Wardens), "containing by estimation one and a half acres" for the sum of £37-10s. On this land the present school and school house was built.

Monday February 17th 1896 at 3.15pm The Venerable Archdeacon of Dorset opened  St Marys School which remained under church control and management until 20th October 1971.

By 1896 the present building was under construction and was blessed and dedicated as Saint Mary the Virgin on 9th December 1897 (but not consecrated) by the then Bishop of Salisbury.  In Easter 1898 there were just 31 communicants. Ministry from 1897 to 1900 in the West Moors district was mainly under Reverend WF Cecil Gurney.  Saint Mary's Church School opened in 1896.  Easter Day in 1899 there were 34 Communicants.  The total recorded living in the Parish was 135.

Mains water supply came to the village in the early 1900's.

In 1918 the first moves were made to separate West Moors into a parish in its own right and the fine vicarage on Station Road (No.128 next to the school) was conveyed to the living for the Curate serving West Moors Chapel.  There were problems in establishing a sufficient benefaction to endow a curacy and it was proposed that a District Chapelry should be assigned to St Mary's so that marriages, baptisms, churchings and burials could be performed there.  In 1921 a part of Gussage All Saints was added to the assignment and St Mary's became a Consolidated Chapelry. 

In 1920 the present Organ, a Gray and Davidson instrument was purchased for £130 from Mont Dene Hotel in Bournemouth at an auction sale and was erected on the 14th March and was used for the service on that day.  There are seven speaking stops, with the usual basic couplers, two manuals and parallel pedals.  The Great Organ: Principal 4'  Dulciana 8' & Open Diapason 8'.  The Swell Organ: Suabe Flute 4'  Lieblick Gedackt 8'  Kerulophon 8'.  The Pedal Organ: Bourdon 16'.  The organ has tracker action and is provided with two combination pedals on the great Organ and a ratchet pedal for the Swell Organ.  Although the organ is electrically blown (mechanised 1947) the hand bellows are still in working order.

Also in April 1920 the present carved stone reredos was given by Sir CR Harrison and erected in the Sanctuary. It depicts Christ the King of Heaven with Angels attending him on each side with rather fine thuribles.  The use of incense was a prominent part of worship until the time of Rev Chisholm in the late 1980's when the incumbent and PCC agreed to discontinue its regular use.  The original six fine candlesticks were stolen in the 1990's and replaced, albeit with less valuable candlesticks.  The reredos was refurbished in 1988.

Finally on 3rd March 1922 St Mary's assumed its new role as the Parish Church of the new Ecclesiastical Parish of West Moors with Revd. C Carew Cox as the first Vicar (he had been priest in charge since 1917).  This is the church photographed (see above) before the 1927 extension works started, actual date unknown.  Note the School House and School just down the road.  This undated photograph (see below) shows these fine buildings from across Station Road before the plot was developed.  The school has been extended and is still in use today, but the old school house was sold into private ownership on 16th November 1984.

In 1922 the present stained glass windows depicting The Annunciation (with the inscription, "Hail thou art highly favoured by thee") and the Anointing of Jesus (with the inscription, "Her sins which were many are forgiven for she loved much") were installed to the east windows which previously had been of plain glass.  The Dove of the Holy Spirit is depicted in the central window which is almost nearly covered by the reredos.  The windows were, "A thank offering A.M.D.G 1922".  The windows were unveiled and dedicated by the then Bishop of Salisbury on 11th February 1923.

On 31st December 1925 land on Pinehurst Road was acquired with some financial help from Lord Shaftesbury from Mrs Helene Stainer (née Frampton) for the sum of £25.  An unused 1897 wooden chapel building was disassembled and moved from Rowe Hill, in the neighbouring parish of Holt and erected on the Pinehurst Road site as a Chapel of Ease.  It cost £50 for the building and £25 for the furnishings.  A team of some 15 men volunteered to do the work, which took four months to complete, including the Rev Carew Cox, with a professional foreman from Ringwood.  It was known as St John's, was re-dedicated by the Bishop of Sherborne on 5th November 1925 and was in use until 1999. (See photograph under 2000 below).

Between 1925 and 1939 (actual date unclear) benefaction was transferred as the benefices of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George were united (located 7 & 6 miles NW of Amesbury).  A charge was placed on the new united benefice in favour of the benefice of West Moors. This was necessary to help fund the parish of West Moors.  This arrangement would have ceased under the general reorganisation of clergy stipends in the 1970's - but thanks to Orcheston!

By 1926 there were 219 communicants at four services held on Easter Day, so the need arose to either build a larger church or extend. 

To increase seating capacity an extension to the west end of the original church was preferred to rebuilding (due to lack of funds) and was started on 1st March 1927, and was finally dedicated on 13th March 1931.  It added 25 feet in length to the nave, with another two arched windows to the south wall and an arched window and a heavy oak back door to the north-west corner.  The Font was moved from its original position in the north-west corner to its present position at the centre of the west (back) wall.  At the same time an organ chamber was added on the north side of the nave and the organ moved to its present position.  Chairs to fill the space behind the pews in the extension were donated by generous parishioners. These were replaced a few years ago.  Parishioners could purchase the old wooden chairs for £5, but some have been seen fairly recently on eBay making much, much more!

The Memorial Hall was opened June 27th 1929. 

Electricity came to West Moors in 1931 and a system of electric lighting was installed in 1936.  (Gas came in 1911, although not to the church and the first private telephone lines in 1933).

In 1936 the present fine stained glass window depicting the Presentation of the Lord (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) was installed at the west end.  It is, "A thank offering for the reign of King George V 1910-1936".  It is inscribed, "Nunc dimmittis servum tuum Domine secundum verbum tuum in pace; Quia viderant oculi mei salutare tuum".  Interestingly the window wasn't dedicated until 13th March 1950!

An internal photograph taken after 1936 (actual date unknown) after the present oak pulpit was donated in memory of the Fryer family and erected in 1930.  Previously a smaller pulpit had been placed on the other (northern) side, where the lectern is now installed.  The inscription around the top of the pulpit in Latin says, Non enim nosmetipsos predicamus sed Ieusum Xpm".   "(It is) not in fact we ourselves who preach, but Jesus Christ".  The wooden panel sides have small escutcheons which display the heraldic devices of the Sees of Canterbury, Salisbury and Bristol.  Note the metal gates to the choir which were removed in the 1990's, otherwise not much has changed except the lighting. The altar hangings, that are still in use, were dedicated on the 13th January 1921.

Easter 1939 recorded 246 communicants - but at least there was more seating capacity after the extension works!

In the 1940's during a service the large tree which stood across the path adjacent to the entrance porch blew down. 

There are no significant war time events recorded for the church, but there are several servicemen buried in the church graveyard.  In the Minutes of the Mothers Union for September 1939 it noted, "Our Autumn session this year also opened under a shadow, in this time of War.  We had no September meeting by special request from Salisbury".  Henceforth the Vicar was asked to address the monthly meetings, "owing to transport difficulties preventing speakers travelling any distance". One member, Mrs Robinson, couldn't attend meetings any longer due to the petrol shortages...it was hoped, "that after the war was over she would once more give us her help and support".  Little did they realise what lay ahead.  Minutes also state, "As we had not yet become accustomed to going out to entertainments in the evening during the Blackout it was decided that an evening social was impossible".  Sept 11th 1940 records, "a very pleasant afternoon (garden meeting) in spite of an Air Raid warning".  The annual outings were also suspended.  In the report for 1941 it states, "In spite of the difficulties of rationing it has been possible to provide tea and cakes or biscuits at all the meetings".  Late in the war the MU were knitting for victims. 

St Mary's School records opening a week later than planned after the summer holiday on 11th September 1939, due to the outbreak of war with Germany.  An air-raid warning disrupted school on 11th July 1940.  Evacuated children added about 50 to the roll.  In April 1943 hot school meals were introduced by the use of the church room across the road. 

A substantial Military Fuel Depot was established on Shaftesbury Estate land to the north of the parish. It opened in 1938 and was used by the US Army as a depot for the 1944 Normandy Invasion. By 1946 it housed some German POW's and by 1971 became a UK Joint Services Petroleum Depot. This resulted in growing numbers of service families with their children attending St Mary's School, until the military presence was scaled down in the 1990's. Today the 168 Hectare site houses The Defence Fuels Group who purchase, test and deliver all fuels and lubricants to UK forces worldwide, a military fuels handling school and the Dorset Fire Service Training School (from 1976). 25 hectares of the land is protected as a Site of Scientific Interest (SSI) due to the quality of flora and fauna found there.

On V.E. Day 1945 the whole village celebrated with a street party.

On 18th May 1958 the 50th Anniversary of the Consecration of the church was marked by visits from Canon JS Maples Diocesan Director of Religious Education in the morning and in the evening the Vicar of Wimborne.

In 1960 the present electric heating system was installed.  Until then heating had been by a coal fired boiler located under the Priest's Vestry.  Unfortunately the chamber is below ground level and the development of the road and surrounding land led to a change in the drainage and water course and caused the boiler chamber to flood.  Mains drainage came to West Moors in the early 1960's - the population was just over 2000.

An external photograph from the North in the 1950/60's? showing the extension, before the Meeting Room Hall was added in 1972/3.  The second photograph shows a procession of Verger, Thurifer & Boat Buy, Acolytes, Crucifer, Priest (Reverend Alban Elliot?) and Bishop of Salisbury during the formal opening and blessing of St Mary's School extension in June 1961 on the day of the church/school Fete.

In 1970 the iron altar rails were replaced with the present wooden rail.  The old iron rails had proved inconvenient as they had a gap in the centre and many elderly people found it difficult to regain their feet after kneeling for Communion without any support from the rail.

In 1971 the original old 'Iron Room' and its site were sold to developers and the funds realised used to construct the present Hall ('Meeting Room') along the North side of the church which was completed in mid-1973.

On 20th October 1971 St Mary's School transferred from full church control as it gained Voluntary Controlled status.  The managers noted their disappointment at this outcome, the church having been so actively involved in the education of the children of the parish for so long, but it stated that, "It had become necessary owing to the impossibility for the church to continue this heavy financial burden annually".

On the 6th and 7th December 1997 the church celebrated its centenary with an exhibition in the Memorial Hall and special services and of course a Centenary Eucharist with re-dedication of the church, presided over by Bishop David Stancliffe, the Bishop of Salisbury.  The then incumbent, Revd. Ian Chisholm and the Parochial Church Council had ambitious plans for the building of new facilities for St Mary's, possibly across the road on the site of the present Memorial Hall, or on a new site, as the need for modern facilities, kitchen, offices and larger hall were realised. The church launched is Vision 2000 scheme.  However rising building costs and soaring land values frustrated all efforts, despite gallant fund raising - the church simply couldn't find a suitable new site in a now thriving and developed centre and was unable to realise its immediate vision and this was most frustrating.

Clergy, Choir & Wardens Late 1950's with Vicar, Alban Elliot on left of centre.

Present Incumbent with The Archbishop of Canterbury in 2005 on the Aldhelm Pilgrimage

Church Yard - Notable burials

Sir Frederick William Richards Fryer (1845-1922)
Indian Civil Service 1864-1903;
Lt-Governor of Burma 1897-1903

He entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1864, spending the first twenty-two years of his career in the Punjab. His later posts included:  Financial Commissioner in Burma, 1888, Officiating Financial Commissioner, Punjab, Additional Member of the Governor-General’s Legislative Council, 1894-1895 and finally Lieutenant-Governor of Burma, 1897-1903. His extensive diaries from 1865-1880 describe his early life in the Punjab.