Dorchester Abbey

The restoration of Dorchester Abbey was begun under the auspices of the Oxford Architectural Historical Society. Sir George Gilbert Scott succeeded William Butterfield, appointed to the job by the Rev. W. C. Macfarlane in 1859, and continued work on the building until 1874. This included restoring the south end of the chancel aisle and two chantry chapels, the roofs were raised to their original pitch, rebuilding the vaulting at the east end of the south aisle and adding vaulting to four bays of the south choir aisle in accordance with the original intentions. Scott also changed Butterfield’s re-roofing in stone slates to clay tiles. He designed a reredos for the Abbey but this remained unexecuted (Drawing Collection, RIBA, p. 28). In the churchyard, he restored the cross for Macfarlane in around 1872, charging £3 3s for the work. The head and cross are now inside the Abbey.