(John 14:6)
Currently online
The Royal and Ancient Chapel of Canford Magna which was knocked down by King Canute (possibly), cursed by King John (probably), and used for worship by Cardinal Beaufort, (son of John O'Gaunt), Margaret Beaufort, (the Matriarch of the Tudors), her son Henry VII, her grandson Henry VIII, Edward IV & Edward VI (most likely). Our hotch-potch of a church is the oldest building in the borough of Poole and today is used as a thriving Parish Church and the Chapel of Canford School. We love it. Come and visit us sometime, see what you can find, and enjoy it for yourselves.
In 1846 Canford Manor was bought by the ironmaster. Sir John Guest of Guest, Keen and Nettlefold (G.K.N.) who made most of the world's railway lines. His son Ivor was responsible for a major restoration of the church and he equipped the chancel with the various-sized wooden stalls, 'tailor-made to the crinolined or tail-coated posteriors of the family’. There is no known dedication for our parish church but the chancel is not oriented directly to the east but to that point where the sun rises on St. Augustine's day, and some have thought this indicates the original dedication of the church.
The chancel is the old Saxon church that probably goes back to about 1050. Above the communion table the East Window depicts the Gospel-writing saints, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with the Lord Jesus Christ in the centre, constructed in 1855 to the memory of Sir John Guest. They are flanked by two angels done in mosaic by Salviati probably at the restoration in 1876. Rumour has it that he did these initially as Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene but Lady Wimborne insisted he put wings on them as she didn’t like anything high church.
Beneath the window above the table is the silver cross which carries this inscription:
'In thankful remembrance of the recovery from serious illness
RH Wheeler Head Prefect at Canford School 1937.'
This will have happened during the time of Jack Collins who was the first Vicar of the parish to be also the Chaplain of the school. He founded the rowing club, was a prisoner of war for four years, and drove a red Aston Martin that his aunt, Miss Money-Coutts, gave to him. How times have changed!
We are continually amazed to think that our little Saxon Chapel was built before 1066 and all that, but a lot had undoubtedly happened here, even before that. Organised Christianity really came to Wessex through St. Birinus about 635 A.D. and was spread further by St. Aldhelm when he became Bishop of Sherborne in 705 A.D. It is most likely that there was a church at Canford from those early days when the parish would have been what is now the borough of Poole going all the way to the sea. In 1015 King Canute invaded England at Wareham and in so doing destroyed all the nearby houses and churches. It is probable that he burnt the River Stour churches of Sturminster Marshall, Shapwick, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne Minster, Canford Magna, Hampreston, Kinson and West Parley at this time, as none of these very old buildings pre-date Canute while remains of stone crosses from earlier Saxon times have been found in several of their graveyards.
Looking up to the right at the end of the Saxon Chapel is a whacking big hole. A good imagination will reveal that a staircase was once there and a big rood screen hid the choir stalls from the congregation as is often seen in our Cathedrals and other old churches which were standing in the days when transubstantiation was a major issue. Our church started out as a Roman Catholic Church and after the Reformation, for 200 years, the Roman Catholic Webbs were the Lords and Ladies of Canford Manor. During this period, because of the climate of the time, the protestant Constantines and Willetts of Merley House maintained our church and removed a number of its Catholic characteristics. The Willetts also gave their name to our local pub.
The Guests were low church and Lady Cornelia Guest, Lady Wimborne, was one of the leading evangelicals in the country. With her son they sold the Manor to the Martyrs Memorial Trust who converted it into Canford School. This is where our evangelical tradition comes from and why a number of churches of that persuasion can be found in the borough of Poole which once belonged to the Manor of Canford. The school is still one of the joint patrons of our church.
Further down the south aisle alongside the nave is what I call the name-dropping plaque. On November 9th 1909 Montague John Guest died at Sandringham while attending the King's birthday party. And talking of Kings, in the 13th century William Longespee was the Lord of Canford Manor, the son of Henry II and brother of King Richard 1 and King John. This is why many roads in nearby Bearwood are named after John who often visited his crusading brother William and went hunting with him. William and his wife Ela laid two of the foundation stones of Salisbury Cathedral. His son William Longespee II granted Poole its first charter in 1248. On the south wall near the door is a small splayed window with a stepped sill which is almost untouched Norman work. Historically and architecturally it is probably my favourite window.
Past the 13th century Early English font made of Purbeck marble, there are five unusual arches in the nave of the Church. Three are round and two are pointed. This means three are Norman and two, including the main one leading into the chancel, are perpendicular. The smaller of the two is a rare example of a perpendicular arch on Norman pillars. Probably 15th century on top of twelfth century which suggests that when the old one fell down no-one knew how to build Norman arches any more.
The piers of the south arcade each have a square abacus, while those on the north side are rounded, indicating that the North aisle is slightly later in date than the south.
In the North aisle is the window of the good Shepherd which is worthy of reflection. It reveals to us the compassion of Christ who searches for the lost and looks after them when they let him find them. There is a scroll on the North wall inscribed with these sober words, near a sculpted skull.
'Life how short. Eternity how long.'
How important it is to be found by the Good Shepherd!
The nave was extended westward in 1829 and across it today can be seen a bridge built in 1976 to carry the organ which was largely a gift from Canford School with whom we continue to enjoy a close relationship. A Book of Honours in the South Aisle commemorates the Old Boys (no girls in those days) who gave their lives in the Second World War.
On the wall near the font is a list of the Vicars and Rectors of the Parish. In 1971 the second John Collins became our Vicar just before the parish grew from 500 to 15,000 with the development of Merley and Bearwood. John's wife Diana had a vision of a lantern shining God's light into the estate of Merley, consequently the Lantern Church was built as a daughter church in 1976. Canon lan Savile oversaw the creation of our second daughter church, St. Barnabas, in Bearwood on King John Avenue, in 1982.
Prebendary John Collins wrote part of the Alpha course and when he moved to Holy Trinity Brompton his Curate Nicky Gumbel extended it and exported it. It is wonderful to think that over a million people have attended the course, thousands have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and it was all started by a Vicar from Canford Magna under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit.
Outside the church the possible Scotch granite tomb of Sir Henry Austen Layard is situated just outside the main door, (some think he was buried in London), who brought a frieze to Canford from Nineveh in the nineteenth century, which sold for £7.7 million in recent times. Sadly he chose to put it on the wall of the manor house rather than the wall of the church. However, the spiritual treasure our little Royal Chapel exists to promote is of the eternal non-corruptible kind which is far more important to those of us who worship here week by week.
Peter H Lawrence
The East window flanked by Salviati’s Angels
The nave showing two Norman arches and the central perpendicular one
The nave and South aisle of the Church
Norman window in the South aisle
An aerial view of the Rectory, Church and Canford
Canford Magna Parish Church in the snow. Note the Norman tower.
CANFORD MAGNA
PARISH
CHURCH
PARISH
CHURCH
Wimborne Dorset
Here is a prayer written by Nicky Gumbel which we often use in our church when people want to become a Christian:
Lord Jesus Christ,
I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life.
Please forgive me.
I now turn from everything which I know is wrong.
Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I
could be forgiven and set free.
Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of
your Spirit.
I now receive that gift.
I now turn from everything which I know is wrong.
Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I
could be forgiven and set free.
Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of
your Spirit.
I now receive that gift.
Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with
me forever.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
Amen.
The Norman tower which houses the belfry (best seen from the outside), was built around 1180 A.D. and is situated in a very unusual position. It may be that it was built on the North Side to stop the church from falling down on the South Side. The tower contains six bells in a timber cage of 1873. Five of them were cast in 1739 and re-cast in 1799 while the sixth was added in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Just left of the table in the vestry is our only pre-reformation wall plaque commemorating the knight, Richard Cheke (1502).
Over the years historians and church lovers have been quite rude about our little church. 'Interesting but not beautiful' is the nicest way they put it. This is because bits kept being added and nobody, thankfully, ever decided to knock it down and start again. Consequently we have television sets all over the place which help people to see round corners, courtesy of a video camera, during the services. The chancel has thick Saxon walls (much thicker than those built in Norman times), and is now flanked by a carpeted side chapel which was added in the early 16th century. In the days when we owned the Royal Peculiar (don't ask) this little side chapel was used as the office for the Consistory Court. The large round-arched opening through which can be seen the Lord's Table is of 11th century workmanship and suggests that the present side chapel is on the site of a very much earlier predecessor. Close to the side chapel is a doorway in the south wall through which the Lords and Ladies of Canford Manor were able to enter in privacy. Above this door is a tablet set up in 1651 to Henry Constantine of Merley who died in 1613. Why, I wonder, did his widow delay so long in commemorating her dead husband? Nobody seems to know.