THE BUILDING
From “The Valley of the Bride” by Canon Edward Daniell, Rector of Litton Cheney 1935-1952
The parish church of St. Mary, stands in a commanding position. Its square stone tower, characteristic of Dorset churches, has
stood the south-westerly gales of 500 years or more. Its six bells are mellow and well hung. Two of them are Pre-Reformation,
which is an unusual possession. Legend holds that when Long Bredy was in low water, financially, Litton bought their bell!
Happily there is no ill-feeling about it for it happened a long time ago.
The Tenor and 5th bells were cast in Exeter about A.D. 1500 and so they were rung by the monks before the Reformation, and
before Shakespeare was born. They have been rung down the centuries for victories, coronations, weddings, funerals and for
daily worship. The Latin inscriptions on the Tenor Bell, the Mary Bell, may be translated thus - "Truly under heaven there is no
sweeter bell than I", and on the 5th bell, the 'Peter' bell from Long Bredy, "JESÚS, His name is given in reverence ". The fourth
bell was cast in 1656 and is inscribed with the name of the Churchwarden—"Andru Churchel ". Sir Winston Churchill, ancestor
of Britain's greatest son came from Lyme Regis. Can Litton claim any link? We, at least, like to think so. In 1848 two bells were
re-cast and a new one, the Treble, added, the gift of the Rector the Rev. James Cox. The Octave is to be completed this year by
the gift of two bells, one in memory of a resident's son, Lieutenant Kenneth James Harper R.N., who gave his life in H. M.
Submarine Thistle in 1940.
The other in memory of Harry Ford Greening who was born and bred in Litton and loved his old Parish Church. Have you ever
considered the message bells convey? To me our Octave will suggest—"The joy of the Lord is your strength” . The captain of
the tower will welcome any visiting ringer to 'take a turn'.
The Litton Cheney ringers are a mixture of ages and experience. For those wishing to learn how to ring tuition is provided.
Children can learn to ring as soon as they are strong enough to pull a bell. At the Thorner’s school services at the start and end
of each term, four of the children welcome the rest to the service by chiming the four lightest bells under instruction from some of
the regular bellringers.
As the Canon wrote more than 60 years ago, there is no ill-feeling over the transfer of the bell from Long Bredy to Litton Cheney
but the story still resonates between the villages. One of our lady ringers, Lesley Salvetti, commented: “When I ring, I do
sometimes think about the number of people over the centuries, who have rung the bell I am ringing. I feel I am taking my place
in history”.
THE EIGHT CHURCH BELLS
THE RETURN OF THE BELLS
They are rung every Sunday morning before the service and for weddings and other notable occasions. Also, on Tuesday
evenings, the bell ringers spend an hour practising.
The bells were refurbished in 2016 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough.
From the Western Gazette of the 31st of May 1912
LITTON, CHENEY Bell Restoration:
The bells in the Parish Church tower, which have been restored and rehung at a cost of about £50 were formally re-opened on Thursday
last week. The fifth bell, one of the two of the pre-Reformation period in the tower, has been restored at the expense of Mr. C. Fry, as a
memorial to his late father. Mr. T. Fry.
The bells were put to the test at their formal opening on Thursday last, when an enthusiastic team from Bridport and the neighbourhood
visited the village and delighted the countryside with the sweet music of the bells. A full peal of grandsire doubles was rung by the
following team of ringers: Messrs. W. S. B. Northover, J. Zeallv, F. Powel, J. Tompkins (Bndport), Beans, and Lathey (Bradpole).
ST MARY’S CHURCH
Photo by Claire Moore 3_7_2021
VILLAGE FACILITIES
The Parish Church, dedicated to St Mary, is a fine Grade 1 listed building standing in a commanding position overlooking the
village.
The earliest record of a church here occurs in the Ecclesiastical Valor or Taxation of Pope Nicholas IV in 1291 when it was rated at
10 marks. The earliest known Rector was John de Treskes who was presented by Matilda de Gorges in 1299. That there was a
church on the site before the present one is also suggested by the tooling of some of the stones at the base of the tower which is
characteristically Norman.
The oldest remaining parts of the church are sections of the nave including the south doorway and the porch which were probably
built early in the fourteenth century. Late in that century the chancel was rebuilt, the north and east walls being rebuilt yet again
early in the nineteenth century. The tower is of late fourteenth or early fifteenth century date when much of the nave, including the
chancel arch, was built. The church was restored in 1878 when the north chapel was added.
In the south wall of the chancel are two partly restored late fourteenth century windows. The priest's door is of the same period.
The altar table, which has a painted wooden frontal, came from Balliol College
Oxford, replacing a smaller one.
The organ, bought from Magdalen College Oxford, has a single manual and was
built by Gray and Davidson; the pedal board is unusual in having the pedals
arranged in parallel instead of radially.
The freestone panelled tablet on the north wall, with its painted achievementof-
arms is a very fine example of its kind.
The east window is a modern memorial to a former Rector.
The recesses on either side of the chancel arch originally opened through to the
chancel. Beneath these were former side altars. The piscina (stone basin with
drain) which served the altar on the south side can still be seen in the wall of the
nave.
The pair of corbels near the east end of the south wall of the nave represent an angel and a dwarf.
These supported the south end of the rood loft and must have been matched by a pair on the
north side which disappeared with the building of the north chapel.
The window east of the porch in the south wall is an original fifteenth century example. That to the
west is an exact copy in moulded stone of an original which had decayed beyond repair and was
replaced in 1969. The window in the north wall of the nave is a nineteenth century copy of those in
the south wall.
The epitaph to Ann Henvil on the small brass under the south window is diffcult to read but worthy
of the effort.
The font is of uncertain date, the top may be Norman. The base is modern. The top bears signs of
re-tooling.
The 'Devil's Door' on the north side, although filled in, can be clearly seen.
The framed painting of the Royal Coat of Arrns is dated 1719. It was restored in 1957.
The painting on wood on the south wall represents David playing the harp. It is said to have been
hung in the singers' gallery. It is of eighteenth century date and signed
J.Fr.l..es.
The painting of the Holy Family on the north wall is a copy of one by Murillo in the Seville Gallery.
The church plate includes an Elizabethan cup and a cover-paten dated 1574.
The clock, blacksmith made in about 1700 or a little earlier, has neither hands nor a dial and was made
to strike the hours on the hour which it still does by pulling the necessary number of times on a hammer
which strikes the tenor bell. The clock has a two train movement in a "bird cage" frame which was
commonly used from the last quarter of the 17th century and throughout the 18th. Both trains are
powered by weights giving a little over 24 hours running necessitating winding daily, a task still done by
hand; volunteers are always welcome to join the rota for this purpose. The clock, which was neglected
from the outbreak of 2nd World War until it was restored in 1982, is now located on a new frame on the
recently built mezzanine floor in the tower where it can readily be seen in action. On display are plans of
the church, churchyard with numbered references to the headstone inscriptions, together with a list of
past Rectors and Vicars dating from 1299 when Edward I was king.
The sun-dial over the south porch was added to celebrate the Millennium.
LIST OF RECTORS
Rector
Instituted
Patron
Robert De Everdon
1207
Radolphus de Gorges
Walter Giffard
1299
Sir Ralph de Gorges
John de Kyevely
1317
Baron Lord Gorges of Litton
William Walish
1321
Thomas de la More
1321
Eleanor de Gorges
John Waleys
1348
Walter Waleys
Elias Fynch de Bourton
1361
Bishop of Winton
Adam Kene
1364
Thomas Hyne
1391
Jonh de Wyndsore
William Ayle alias Uberton
1392
Robert Rodelane
1399
Margaret Russell and Sir Ralph Cheyne
William Sylke
1434
Sir Etephen Hatfield Cheyne
John Enderby
1445
Alice Cheyne
John Neweton
1467
John Kemys
William Moyne
1534
James Blunt
Richard Vernon
1548
Lord Mountjoy
William Carlton
1565
Edmund Dier
John Chapman
1572
Ralph Hurding of Ashley
Humphrey Fletcher
1574
Richard Berjew
1593
Elizabeth Colshull
Theophilus Quinton
1639
John Filer
1646
Robert Burbage
John Filer
1680
John Hurding of Longbredy
Francis Fulwood
1690
Philip Henvil
1693
John Pym
1695
William Bendle
1714
George Richards of Longbredy
Thomas Pope
1720
John Sainsbury
1727
Bishop of Bristol (per lapsum)
Robert Bean
1755
Eleanor and George Richards
Edward Colmer
?
George Richards
John Richards
1765
George Frome
1804
Trustees of John Richards
James Cox
1824
Himself
James Septimus Cox
1833
Himself
Frederick Colby
1873
Exeter College Oxford
Frederick Crick
1893
Rev. F. W. Crick
William Cobb
1923
Sir Robert Williams
Edward Daniel
1935
Sir Philip Williams
Wilfred Parsons
1953
Alfred Lynch
1960
Gwyn Lewis
1969
Sir David Williams
Harold George Smith
1979
Sir Philip Williams
As part of the Bride Valley Team Ministry from 1979 and the Bride Valley Team Benefice from 2002:
Tobias Salisbury
1979
Rector
Sir Philip Williams
Harold George Smith
1979
Vicar
Canon John McDougal
1986
Rector
Andrew Salmon
1989
Vicar
Canon John Atkinson
1995
Rector
Anthony Ashwell
1997
Vicar
Bob Thorn
2004
Rector
Canon Stephen Batty
2015
Rector
Jane Williams
2019
Rector