St Stephen's Winsham

Getting here

WELCOME TO ST STEPHEN'S, WINSHAM

 NEW RECTOR ANNOUNCEMENT

"It is with great pleasure that the appointment is announced of The Reverend Philip Butcher to the post of Rector to the Two Shires Benefice, comprising Tatworth, Thorncombe, Winsham, Chaffcombe and Cricket Malherbie in the Diocese of Bath & Wells. This appointment is subject to enhanced DBS clearance. Philip has been serving his curacy in the Honiton Mission Community, comprising Honiton, Awliscombe, Buckerell, Combe Raleigh and Gittisham. He and his wife Michelle very much look forward to moving and being a part of the life of the Benefice. The licensing shall be on a date to be announced in the summer. We hold Philip and his family, the Two Shires Benefice, and the Honiton Mission Community in our prayers at this time of transition.”  

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SERVICES AT A GLANCE

Please see our calendar for our regular services, or click this link

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Every last Wednesday in every month there is a coffee morning in the church between 10:30 - 12:00.

Do pop in for a cuppa, a chat and in turn help raise funds for the restoration of the Tower at the same time!

After some eight hundred years of being central to the whole community, physically, spiritually and socially, St.Stephen's perhaps finds itself as part of a paradox. Church attendances at Sunday services, generally, are not as big as they were a hundred or even fifty years ago. A shortage of vocations means that there are not so many clergy, necessitating the overworked team ministries, which do their best to tend their scattered flocks. Does this mean that people are less religious minded than they were? It might at first seem so. But a century ago, certainly in the Church of England, vocations were fuelled by a totally different social order. Church attendance at Sunday Service, in rural areas such as Winsham, would have been reinforced by pressures from the land owners, who were for the most part the employers. But in today's allegedly less spiritual world, nearly half of the 200,000 needed to replace St.Stephen's failing roof was raised from the local community within a couple of years or so. People pack St.Stephen's and the Chapel for the great Feasts of the Christian Church, and funerals often fill the church and chapel to overflowing. The children still love to visit the baby Jesus in his crib at Christmas.

Clearly the role of St.Stephen's and the Chapel is still central to the village. It just manifests itself in different ways.

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For an excellent overview of the building itself, please visit:

www.english-church-architecture.net

&

Web Museum Overview

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Plus the church building has two "must see" things to experience:

The "Tympanum" Rood Screen - it is only one of two that exist anywhere in the world!!!

Read about the unusual Bells here

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SERVICE ROTA

Click here for the latest Service Rota

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The Church of St Stephen in Winsham, Somerset is a wonderful, unique church for your wedding - from the good views of the single aisle to watching the ringers on the bells before the ceremony (they ring from the ground floor!) - please come and visit us!

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St Stephen's Winsham is part of the Two Shires Benefice in the diocese of Bath and Wells. It also consists of St Mary's Thorncombe, St John's Tatworth, St Mary's Cricket Malerbie and St Michael & All Angels Chaffcombe.

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Church Street
Winsham
Chard
TA204HX

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