Friends of Pitminster St Andrew & St Mary, the village in the Blackdown Hills, and the families who sailed from it

Visit, worship & give

The church is open for worship once a month and welcomes visitors at other times; the village is a good day out from Taunton in any season. The parish, not this site, receives every gift to the church.

Finding the church

St Andrew and St Mary stands on Church Lane in Pitminster, postcode TA3 7AZ, about four miles south of Taunton off the road to Blagdon Hill and Honiton. The spire shows the way from the lanes to the south. Taunton has the nearest railway station. Open the map.

If you are coming to see the Treat brass, the Coles tombs or the east window, it is worth writing to the vicarage first to check the church will be open, and the editors are always glad to hear from a visitor before and after.

Services

Holy Communion is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of each month at 10.30am, a service shared with St Nicholas, Corfe. For the rest of the month the six churches of the Blackdown Benefice take turns; A Church Near You keeps the current list, and the benefice's own site is blackdown.org.uk. The vicar is the Revd Jim Fallon, the Vicarage, Pitminster, Taunton TA3 7AZ, telephone 01823 421757.

Giving to the church

A medieval church is kept standing by its parish. The Parochial Church Council is responsible for the building, its roof, its lead and its glass, and for the day-to-day cost of keeping it open; the Church of England does not pay for it centrally. The parish is an excepted charity, and gifts to it are charitable gifts.

Gifts go to the parish directly. This site does not handle money, and never will.

  • UK taxpayers can add Gift Aid, which lets the parish reclaim the basic-rate tax on a gift; the parish will have the form.
  • Giving regularly is what helps a small parish most. Many Bath and Wells parishes use the Parish Giving Scheme, which takes a monthly gift by direct debit or card.
  • From the United States and elsewhere, a gift to an English parish is welcome but is not deductible on a US return; give because the church matters to you, not for the deduction.
  • In your will, a legacy to the parish church is the gift that repairs roofs. The vicarage can tell you how the parish should be named.

Other ways to help

Come to a service when you visit. Buy the church guide if one is on the table. Write a note on the family wall so the village knows who is coming and why. And if you have skills the church or this site could use, whether building, history, photography or fundraising, say so.