Whitcombe, Dorchester

Seen from the road, in a field behind its limestone wall, this church enjoys a marvellous setting, on a pre-Conquest site shown by the fragments of two Saxon crosses. The nave is 12th century, partly rebuilt in the 18th, the chancel was built in the 15th, reusing the old east window, and the tower was completed at the end of the 16th. There are impressive wall paintings, including one of St Christopher, and a fine 13th century Purbeck marble font. The Dorset poet William Barnes had this living from 1847-85, and preached his first and last sermons here.