St Michael & All Angels

Tucked away in the beautiful Purbeck hills in Dorset stands a tiny church in the small hamlet of Steeple. Protected to the north and south by Purbecks stunning chalk and limestone ridges, the church stands on a knoll less about a mile from the sea on two sides. The beauty and remoteness of its location is enhanced by the Ministry of Defence tank ranges at Lulworth, which comprises almost 5 miles of this beautiful coast.

Candida Lycett Green captured the beauty of Steeple in an article published in The Oldie in 2014 , and nothing has changed in the last 9 years. Steeple village is reputed to have fallen into ruin after the great plague. It has been claimed that it was the first village in England to suffer that pandemic. A sailor returning home from a long voyage off a ship laying in Weymouth Bay is said to have carried the disease. The population all succumbed! Today in the winter light one can stand in the field beside the church and look down on the platforms on which hones stood, and discern a simple street pattern.

Today the church stands beside just five homes. The oldest elements of Steeple Church are Norman (12th century) . It has been modified over time, the last major works being the chancel and porch in the 19th century, so it has stood in its current form for 170 years. It is the probably the oldest building in a hamlet of 4 houses and a farm, the barns of which have now been recently converted to provide a number of new homes.

Steeple Parish was mentioned in the Doomsday Book (1087) and the church and its tower are a long recognized, and much loved element of the landscape in the far West of the Corfe river valley, forming a key element of the living environment and heritage of not only Purbeck, but the nation itself.

The church has close links to the Washington family that emigrated to America in the 1600s. In 1390, Edmund Lawrence of Creech Grange married Agnes de Wessington, an heiress of the Washington family. Their descendant was Sir Edward Lawrence (also of Creech Grange), whose initials with the date 1616, are on an armorial tablet over the east doorway of the north transept. The first President of the United States descended from the younger branch of the Washington family whose arms appear on this armorial tablet.

What is remarkable about the coats of arms, which are repeatedly found in the church, is the theory that they depict the device used by George Washington as his design for the flag of America. Although his device has just 3 stars and 3 stripes, there seems a realistic probability that this is the case. A probability that we celebrated when Steeple was presented with the Washington DC flag by the Mayor of Washington, which is hung today in the church. This flag, which matches the Washington Coat of Arms flies on public buildings in the Washington DC administrative area. 

Our church is open daily, and we welcome visitors. There is a small carpark outside the gates, which has 2 footpaths connecting to it, and there is a third just 75 yards to the North, making it an ideal spot to walk from.

The fabric of Steeple Church, which is a listed building, needs to be maintained in a weathertight condition, and the bills for these works fall on the parish. The current most pressing requirement is to complete repairs to gutters and the roof.