Church of St Mary Magdalene, Ditcheat. Pt.1 #church #4k #gothicstyle

‪@churcheswithistory‬ The Church of St Mary Magdalene is the Church of England parish church for the village of Ditcheat, Somerset, England. There has been a church on the site since 824, and the present building owes much of its grandeur to the Abbots of Glastonbury. Historic England have designated it a Grade I listed building. The first church at Ditcheat is believed to have been founded in 824, though all traces of this building have disappeared with centuries of rebuilding. This date comes from an ancient parish book, found by Rev. Henry Tripp in an old chest during the early 1930s. In 842, Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, granted an estate of 25 hides of land in Ditcheat to Eanulf, a Somerset ealdorman, which included the villages of Ditcheat and Lottisham. In 867, Eanulf, dying, gave the estate to the Abbot of Glastonbury. Glastonbury Abbey continued to manage the estate until the abbey was dissolved in 1539, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In the 12th century, the church was demolished and rebuilt, and as such, no trace of the Saxon church remains. The Norman church that replaced it was likely cruciform in plan, as was common with many churches built at that time. The present church also incorporates 12th-century work in the tower and transepts, which gives further evidence that the Norman church likely comprised a simple nave, tower, transepts and chancel. In the 13th century, during the reign of Henry III, the dedication of the church was altered to its present form of St Mary Magdalene. The previous dedication of the church is unknown. The 13th century also saw the rebuilding of the chancel, at the time only one storey high, in the Early English Gothic style. More information on Wikipedia. Filmed 05/09/2026.