The Church and Manor House at Nether Cerne. Photo by Mike Searle, for about the photographer please click on the image.

The post Nether Cerne first appeared on Dorset Ancestors.

It was in the 16th century that work started on the building of the manor house and this was completed early in the 17th century. A publication of 1926 describes it as having a “thatched roof” but nowadays the roof is tiled.

Just a few steps from the manor house and by far the oldest building in the parish is the church. The last service at The Church of All Saints took place in 1968; it was declared redundant in 1971 and passed to the Redundant Church Fund in 1973. In his book Highways and Byways Treves talks of the church roof being “gold-green with moss.” Gothic in style and built from flint and stone the chancel window looks out on the bank of the River Cerne, just a few yards away. The nave, chancel and east chapel with its fine window all date from the 13th century, the perpendicular tower was added during a 15th century restoration and is decorated with eight angels rather than the usual gargoyles.

The Norman font is shaped like a bell-flower with alternating broad and narrow flutes. There is a slab memorial to John Dammer who died in 1685; it is thought he was the great grandfather of the first Lord Milton who ordered the building of the mansion house at Milton Abbey. There was a further restoration in 1876 when seating for one hundred wasinstalled, but the days when a minister would look out from the pulpit to address a full church are a distant memory.

The post Nether Cerne first appeared on Dorset Ancestors.