St. John the Evangelist West Bay

This building is at the very center of the little harbour village of West Bay.  It is also one of the youngest churches in the country because it was completed in 1939 and finally paid for in 1949.  It replaced 'The little Upper Room', which was an old sail loft used as a church from about 1860.

It was designed by Randoll Blacking and appears to have been his only church in Dorset, although he was responsible for a font in St. Aldhelm in Branksome and a reredos at Ashmore.  It is a simple building and almost completely white inside.  From the start, it was arranged so that winter congregations could be accommodated in the Lady Chapel and the much larger visitor-augmented summer numbers catered for in the body of the church.  The attractive reredos is noteworthy and the large organ at the rear of the building, purchased from the Methodists in 1972, is a magnificent instrument.

The Trust gratefully acknowledges images and text by Robin Adeney ©

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