WOOL

The Holy Rood

There has been a church here since at least the 13c when it consisted of a nave, chancel and narrow north aisle.  It was a parochial chapel belonging to Coombe Keynes and received its dedication in 1384.

By 1864 the building was in a dangerous state and the architect considered it unsuitable for divine worship because the roof could have collapsed at any time.  This was irresistible to the Victorian reformers and they demolished the body of the church and chancel to make way for a building 12 feet longer.  They left the tower and the north and east walls of the nave, which meant that the probably unique 14c triple arch chancel screen was left alone.  The architect was John Hicks, who had Thomas Hardy the novelist as a pupil, and the work was finished in 1866.  There are two fonts, the Wool font is 15c and the Coombe Keynes font, which came from the now redundant church (1974), is 13c.

There is a four-wick cresset stone, discovered during the Victorian re-building and the stoup on display is from Coombe Keynes.