St Mary’s Church

Church of St. Mary, Kilmington

The earliest remaining feature in the church is a 14th cenury arch between the nave and the south chapel, as the chancel, nave, and north aisle were rebuilt in the 1860s. The embattled 15th cenury tower is Perpendicular being a three stage Somerset type and a copy of the one at Bruton. The Hartgill chapel is on the north side of the nave and there are memorials in the church from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

In the 1830s it was recorded that there was no east window in the chancel, but that the church was ‘neatly pewed’ . The chancel was rebuilt in 1864 and the remainder of the church, except the tower, in 1869. The cost of the latter was £1,640 and the rebuilding provided seating for 170 people. The tower was restored in 1903 by C.E. Ponting and at that time there were two bells. There had been three earlier. but today there is only one. There is a wooden polygonal pulpit, on a stone plinth, and a litany, both made up of 17th century pieces. The octagonal stone font is 19th century and an early sundial, illustrated in J. Collinson’s ‘History of Somerset’, was moved to the early 19th century Rectory and replaced in the late 1980s.

The parish registers from 1596 (christenings) and 1582 (marriages and burials), other than those in current use, are held in the Wiltshire and Somerset Record Office.