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The present building consists of a chancel and S chapel, rebuilt 1907-13; a 13th-c N transept and nave, with a late 13th-c W porch; a S transept rebuilt in the 15thc and 16thc; and a central tower, heightened in the 15thc.
Parts of the arches of the tower crossing may be 12thc in origin.
Noted as ‘Pedret’ in Domesday Book, it was held by William, tenant of Earl Hugh. There is no mention of a church.
Pevsner states that the tower crossing is of c. 1200; the RCHM suggests the 13thc. Each of the arches has a large engaged shaft to its face, and this is a 12th-c feature.
The profile to the capitals above the shafts, described above, is continuous around the responds. This profile does not appear to be of the 12thc: the impression is of a simple 12th-c moulding reworked in the 13thc or 15thc. The arches over (pointed, two-centred and of two chamfered orders) are typical of the early or mid-13thc. These match the chamfers to the responds, which again are a feature of the 13thc and later, rather than the 12thc. On balance, the crossing is most probably of the early 13thc, incorporating some archaic 12th-c features.
The stonework to the crossing, an orange/grey limestone, and the way it is dressed, is the same on both piers and arches and must, therefore, be of the same date in the opinion of this fieldworker.
J. Newman and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Dorset, New Haven and London 2002, 394.
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Vol. I: West, London 1952, 176-77.
A. Williams and G. H. Martin (eds), Domesday Book: A Complete Translation, London 2002, 214.