St Mary of the Annunciation, Beaminster

Over the last few days we've discovered the delightful town of Beaminster in Dorset and today I visited the main church.

It's a lovely, well cared for church with interesting monuments and a splendid tower, which is a wonderful example of Perpendicular Gothic style, with 41 crocketed pinnacles, and canopied niches holding statues of saints and Biblical scenes. Extra 1 shows a statue of King Alfred.

Extra 2 shows the squint or hagioscope.

A hagioscope (from Greek άγιος, holy, and σκοπεῖν, to see) or squint is an architectural term denoting a small splayed opening or tunnel at seated eye-level, through an internal masonry dividing wall of a church in an oblique direction (south-east or north-east), giving worshippers a view of the altar and therefore of the elevation of the host.