St George's Church Dunsterhas been
featured on BBC "English
Churches", housing the
Luttrell tombs and the
longest Rood Screen in
England. The church
clock plays a different
tune daily on the hours
one, five, and nine. Not
to be missed.
The priory church and nunnery located in the centre of Dunster were jointly the spiritual centre in Dunster from the medieval ages. Built
in the 14th Centry St George's church was shared by the Monks and the parishoners
for years. The church in the heart of the village is bordered on two sides
by the village gardens which are open to the public.
Dunster Church St Georges
Inside the church an ornate wooden partion still remains
from when the monks and locals had to be seperated beacuse they
kept "annoying" each other. Thursday evenings
the bell tower is open to the public during the ringing practice.
Very little is known of Christianity in Dunster before about 1100 AD.
However about 500 years earlier, the people of the area would have been
listening to the preaching of missionaries such as St Carantoc, Patron
of neighbouring Carhampton, and St Decuman, Patron of Watchet. They had
crossed from Wales and found places to live near the coast, and the steps
and stump of a cross in the churchyard at Dunster mark the place where
they, and other preachers, set up wooden crosses and spoke about Christ
before even the simplest church was built in the parish.
St Georges Dunster Church West Door
A church was first erected on the present site by William de Mohun during
the 11th century, of which only the West door and North wall survive.
Sometime during the last decade of that century, William de Mohun gave
the small Church of St George, together with the tithes of several manors
and two fisheries, to the Benedictine Abbey at Bath.
The Priory is first mentioned in 1177, and the monks
from Bath Abbey would have been responsible for the building of the larger
church. During the reign of Henry 3rd. the Choir of the church was further
enlarged, and from 1262 the Priory had a more distinct organisation.
Its endowments were increased by the De Mohun family and the monks held
and farmed a separate manor together with land to the north of the church.
The majority of the present building dates from the 13th century, with
the tower being added in the 1440's. The church at that time was shared
for worship by the monks and the parishioners but, in 1357, the difficulties
of sharing were beginning to emerge and in that year the Prior, Richard
of Childester, drew up an agreement setting out how the church was to
be used by each group.
This worked for over 100 years but in 1498 trouble blew
up again between priory and parish and, after arbitration in Glastonbury,
agreement was reached. This resulted in the wonderful carved rood screen
being constructed which crosses the whole breadth of the church, making
it the longest in England. This effectively divided the church in two
with the parish using the west chancel and the monks the east.
This dual use did not last long for, in 1539 under Henry
VIII, Dunster Priory was dissolved along with the monasteries.The priory
buildings and land passed into the hands of the Crown and were then leased
to John Luttrell, who lived in the Priory Farm beside the church. He
was the uncle of John Luttrell who had recently inherited the castle.
In 1543 the property was sold to the Luttrell family
but shortly after, the rectory, the tithe receipts and the responsibility
for appointing a vicar were conveyed to Hugh Stewkely, who in 1556 was
accused of not making proper provision for a curate although he was receiving
the tithe income.
There then followed, over the next
three centuries, a period of increasing neglect in the fabric of the
church, and the Methodists and Wesleyans used this period to get a
foothold in the village. This seems to also reflect the gradual downturn
in the town's fortunes to the point when, in 1838, the architect S.C.Buckler
condemned the church as "ruinous, damp, draughty and dangerous".
However, after George Luttrell had a new village school built in 1872,
and a complete restoration of the church began in 1875, then the influence
of the Methodists and Wesleyans declined, and their properties were
finally closed and sold off.
The rectory remained in the possession of descendants
of Hugh Stewkely until about 1790 when the property reverted to the Luttrell family. The lack of provision for a priest continued as a problem in
the parish, there being a minimal endowment to support a clergyman until
1872, when a new vicarage was built by Thomas Fownes Luttrell, and the
cure properly endowed.
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