English Heritage sites near Winsham Parish
MUCHELNEY ABBEY
12 miles from Winsham Parish
Once a wealthy Benedictine house, Muchelney’s main buildings were demolished by Henry VIII in 1538. See the richly decorated cloister walk and thatched monks’ lavatory – the only one in Britain.
BLACKBURY CAMP
14 miles from Winsham Parish
An Iron Age hillfort in Devon with impressive ramparts, now surrounded by woodland.
WINTERBOURNE POOR LOT BARROWS
17 miles from Winsham Parish
A 'cemetery' of 44 Bronze Age burial mounds of varying types and sizes, straddling the A35 main road.
KINGSTON RUSSELL STONE CIRCLE
17 miles from Winsham Parish
A late Neolithic or early Bronze Age circle of 18 fallen stones, on a hilltop overlooking Abbotsbury and the sea.
THE NINE STONES
18 miles from Winsham Parish
Now in a wooded glade, this small prehistoric circle of nine standing stones was constructed around 4,000 years ago and is surrounded by a mysterious air. Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows are nearby.
SHERBORNE OLD CASTLE
18 miles from Winsham Parish
Built on a grand scale in the 12th century by the Bishop of Salisbury, Sherborne was coveted by churchmen and noblemen alike giving it a long, chequered history. Picnic, shop, light refreshments.
Churches in Winsham Parish
St Stephen's
Church Street
Winsham
Chard
01460221286
WELCOME TO ST STEPHEN'S, WINSHAM
The Parish Church of St Stephen: An Overview
After some eight hundred years of being central to the whole community, physically, spiritually and socially, St.Stephen's perhaps finds itself as part of a paradox. Church attendances at Sunday services, generally, are not as big as they were a hundred or even fifty years ago. A shortage of vocations means that there are not so many clergy, necessitating the overworked team ministries, which do their best to tend their scattered flocks. Does this mean that people are less religious minded than they were? It might at first seem so. But a century ago, certainly in the Church of England, vocations were fuelled by a totally different social order. Church attendance at Sunday Service, in rural areas such as Winsham, would have been reinforced by pressures from the land owners, who were for the most part the employers. But in today's allegedly less spiritual world, nearly half of the 200,000 needed to replace St.Stephen's failing roof was raised from the local community within a couple of years or so. People pack St.Stephen's and the Chapel for the great Feasts of the Christian Church, and funerals often fill the church and chapel to overflowing. The children still love to visit the baby Jesus in his crib at Christmas.
Clearly the role of St.Stephen's and the Chapel is still central to the village. It just manifests itself in different ways.
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For an excellent overview of the building itself, please visit:
www.english-church-architecture.net
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Plus the church building has several "must see" things to experience:
The "Tympanum" Rood Screen - it is only one of two that exist anywhere in the world!!!
Read about the unusual Bells here
Foxes' Book of Martyrs
Reredos by Harry Emms
Notable Grade 2 listed monuments in the churchyard
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St Stephen's Winsham is part of the Two Shires Benefice in the diocese of Bath and Wells. It also consists of St Mary's Thorncombe, St John's Tatworth, St Mary's Cricket Malerbie and St Michael & All Angels Chaffcombe.
Pubs in Winsham Parish
Bell Inn
Church Street, Winsham, TA20 4HU
(01460) 30677
thebellinwinsham.co.uk
Windwhistle Inn
Cricket St Thomas, TA20 4DQ
(01460) 30229
windwhistleinn.co.uk