In volume XII of the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club published an article on the Churches of the Rural Deanery of Dorchester in 1891, by the late Rev. William Miles Barnes, better known as the Dorset Poet. This is his description of Frome Vauchurch.
A tiny church, yet not wanting in interesting features. The plan of the church is Norman, or earlier. The chancel has been built recently.
On the north side of the church is a doorway (built up) of late 12th century (Norman) workmanship. The familiar dog-tooth ornament which appears in the moulding of the arch is an evidence of the lateness of the work in the period. This is the first Norman work I have met with in Ham Hill stone.
The font may be of the same period. The basin, however, has no trace of the staples for fastening the cover, which are generally to be found in ancient fonts.
Some of the nave windows, which are rudely cut, may have been originally of the 14th century, and so may be the arch of the porch, the head of which has been tampered with. These have no special interest.
The narrow chancel arch, as is shown by the foundation, was formerly of the same width at the base as it is just below the impost. The jambs have been cut away at some time and a pointed head substituted for the ancient round head. The original arch is not later than the Norman period ; the indented ornament on the impost is of that period, and this may have been executed some time after the erection of the arch, as was a similar indented ornament on an impost of one of the arches in the triforium of the Abbey Church of St. Alban’s.
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