A plain red brick interwar design, with later addition, making no more than a modest contribution to the Wareham Conservation Area. 

In 1888 a Community of Passionists settled at the Westport Estate in Wareham. The church of St Michael was built in 1889, to designs by Canon A. J. C. Scoles. The Passionists left Wareham in 1901 and the church was closed. In 1906 it was moved, stone by stone, to Dorchester (that church has now in turn closed). Wareham then had a period without a church until the present church seating 130 was built in 1933. According to a brief account in The Tablet (21 October 1933) the font in the church had come from Bindon Abbey and the reredos, previously in the old church at Wimborne, was the work of German prisoners-of-war who were at Dorchester during World War I.

Description

A plain brick church of nave and sanctuary under one roof. Contrasting plum and red brick. Gables at each end and felted pitched roof. Five bays of windows, a pair of tall and narrow rectangular windows to each bay, with broad pilasters between. Round arched doorway in the east wall, placed to one side. At the west end is a flat-roofed narthex, probably added in the 1980s. The felt flat roof is placed between parapeted walls. The narthex is slightly wider from the nave and is partly disconnected from it. Four tall and narrow rectangular windows to north and, all with plain coloured glass. The west front has a central round-headed doorway with panelled doors and a band of high level windows.

The interior of the narthex is finished in white brick and has a confessional on the north side. Glazed doors and screen to the nave. The interior has plastered and white-painted walls and a fully exposed lightweight roof, that over the sanctuary is painted white. The east wall has painted panelling, integral with the original high altar.

Amended by AHP 23.01.2021

Heritage Details