St Mary's Church, Longfleet

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St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church
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Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship charismatic evangelical
Weekly attendance ca. 500
Website www.smlpoole.com
History
Dedication Virgin Mary
Architecture
Heritage designation Grade II[1]
ID: 412520
Architect(s) Edward Blore
Style Gothic Revival
Administration
Parish Longfleet
Deanery Poole
Diocese Salisbury
Province Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s) Revd. Canon Andrew Perry
Assistant priest Revd. Dr. Justin Tomkins
Curate(s) Revd. Mark Hay
Laity
Churchwarden(s) John Rolleston, Jo Elliott
Business manager Paul Eaton

St Mary's, Longfleet, (also called SML or SML Poole) is a Church of England parish church in Longfleet, a district of Poole, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. It is part of the New Wine network and describes itself as a large, vibrant, evangelical charismatic church with an informal atmosphere.

Location

St Mary's is located on the south side of Longfleet Road, just above Poole Hospital.[2] It has a prominent spire that may be seen for miles around.

History

St. Mary's is a Gothic Revival church that was built in the years 1830–33[3] and consecrated on 25 September 1833.[4] It was originally designed by Edward Blore, but has been considerably modified since.[4] In 1863, a chancel and organ chamber were added by G. E. Street and the year 1884 saw the western end enhanced by a spire, 135 feet (41 m) high, erected by G. R. Crickmay and Son.[3] The spire was donated by William Pearce JP, a 19th-century Mayor of Poole, who resided at nearby Springfield House.[5] There was further remodelling in 1915[4] which saw the nave rebuilt with aisles and transepts by Herbert Kendell of Poole.[3] According to English Heritage, "in spite of a surprisingly complicated development, the church is an effective composition, whose major accent, the northwest tower and spire, is one of Poole's most important landmarks."[3]

In 1995 the church was assessed as a Grade II listed building.[3]

Longfleet parish was formed in 1837 from Great Canford. Its boundaries changed in 1946 when part of Longfleet became the new parish of Oakdale St George.[6]

St. Mary's today

St. Mary's describes itself as a "vibrant evangelical charismatic Church" and "a large multi-generational church with an informal atmosphere."[7] The church is part of the New Wine Network.[8]

The church continues to serve the local community and has several Sunday School classes as well as ministries for men, women, youth, pastoral care, outreach and worship.[9][10] It is very active and works with local authorities, e.g. through Faithworks Wessex, running projects like MON£Y MATT£RS, a money management and debt advice service,[11] and Befrienders, linking up with people who are in need of companionship.[12] The church also has close links with Longfleet Church of England Voluntary Combined School.[13]

The present incumbent, Rev. Andrew Perry, became the vicar of St. Mary's in 1995 and has overseen the church as its community has grown from 80 to around 800. He was installed as a canon of Salisbury Cathedral on 3 July 2012.[14]

New church centre project

In August 2011, St Mary's was granted planning permission to redevelop its church centre[15] as a facility for the church and local community. The church centre is located opposite the church itself in Longfleet Road. Work commenced in May 2013 and a pelican crossing over Longfleet Road has already been installed.[16] According to St Mary's, the aims of the redevelopment are to:

  • create a welcoming building and site
  • enhance children and young people’s learning of "God’s extravagant love" by providing a fun, creative and stimulating environment
  • have all its Sunday groups housed in one building
  • increase the opportunities for different social and activity groups to use facilities together
  • provide people involved in pastoral counselling and small groups with appropriately sized, comfortable and well-furnished rooms
  • easily cater for the needs of a regular café, men’s and women’s breakfasts, an Alpha course, an elderly person's lunch club, sizeable social events… with a fully equipped kitchen
  • enhance delivery of parenting, marriage & Alpha courses; discipleship courses and pastoral training; dynamic events for youth and students through the use of modern technology[15]

The new church centre was completed in May 2014 and officially opened on 23 Sep 2014 at a celebration attended by the Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam. It is used regularly by Poole Hospital and local health charities.

Gallery

  • Poole, the hospital and Longfleet St. Mary's in semi-silhouette - geograph.org.uk - 1430388.jpg

    Poole Hospital and the spire of St Mary's seen across Poole Park Lake

See also

References

  1. ↑ Church of St Mary, Poole at www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  2. ↑ SML – How to find us at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Longfleet Connections at freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Springfield, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset at www.flickr.com. Accessed on 11 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Longfleet Parish at The National Archives. Accessed on 11 September 2012.
  7. ↑ St Mary's Longfleet Church at www.fusion.uk.com. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  8. ↑ St. Mary's Longfleet, Poole" at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 11 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Groups at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Ministries at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  11. ↑ MON£Y MATT£RS project: Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch at www.stewardship.org.uk. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  12. ↑ Befrienders at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 24 September 2012.
  13. ↑ Longfleet Church of England VC Combined School at www.longfleet.poole.sch.uk. Accessed on 11 September 2012.
  14. ↑ Four new canons for cathedral at www.salisburyjournal.co.uk. Accessed on 11 September 2012.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 SML Church Centre Building Project at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 20 July 2013
  16. ↑ Church Centre Update at www.smlpoole.org.uk. Accessed on 20 July 2013

External links

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