East Dean: St Winfrith

East Dean is a small village that follows the path of the River Dun.  It has a population of around 200 and is located close to the Hampshire/Wiltshire border.

St Winfrith’s is a beautiful welcoming ancient church of more than 1050 years, having been constructed around the late Saxon era.  The church is Grade II* listed and, with the aid of a local trust, was renovated both internally and externally in 2023 to a high standard in keeping with the age of the building and using traditional local materials.

Services are welcoming and simple, held weekly, and are traditional (Book of Common Prayer) and they attract worshippers from the local area.  Each month there is an 8am Holy Communion, a 9am Holy Communion, an 11am Matins and a 6pm Evensong.

The church always remains open, at the request of a local parishioner who had entered the church one morning to find a man who had sought solace in the church overnight and said that this experience had turned his life around.

The churchyard is beautiful and is managed to allow wildflowers to grow and wildlife to flourish.  In the springtime there are wonderful carpets of snowdrops, followed by primroses, cowslips, celandines, moon daisies and wild orchids.

Macmillan coffee mornings, flower festivals and concerts are held in the church and St Winfrith’s is the only community building in the village.

East Dean PCC is combined with Lockerley PCC.