George Somers, founder of the colony of Bermuda, is buried under the vestry and the assassinated Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is interred in the churchyard.

The church lies on the northern edge of Whitchurch Canonicorum, a small village in the Marshwood Vale in west Dorset.

In the 11th century William the Conqueror gave ownership of the church to the monks of St Wandrille's monastery in Normandy, France.

In 1190 the monks sold or gave the church and benefice to the Bishop of Salisbury and in the early 13th century it was handed over to Robert de Mandeville, Lord of Marshwood Vale, in return for an annual fee.

However, the Bishop of Salisbury was unwilling to relinquish his annual payment and a compromise was reached whereby the parish tithes would be divided between the two canons.

[4] The shrine and its relic's reputed healing powers made the church a busy and prosperous centre of pilgrimage.

[8][14] It comprises a rectangular coffin with a Purbeck Marble lid supported by a base that features three oval openings.

[14] Pilgrims believed the relics to have healing powers and these openings enabled them to place personal belongings or diseased body parts into the shrine in hope of a cure.

It is approximately 75 feet (23 m) tall and has a crenellated parapet and set back buttresses topped by crocketed pinnacles.

[19] The single-story south porch is Perpendicular and features a crenellated parapet, diagonal buttresses and large carved grotesques at each corner.

The columns stand on plinths and each have four shafts topped by a variety of intricately carved capitals featuring naturalistic foliage and trumpet-scallops.

[24] In the chancel is a highly decorated monument with a recumbent effigy of Sir John Jefferey, who died in 1611.

The memorial features fluted columns and ornately carved strapwork with cornucopias, fleurons, masks and other motifs.

He was "Captain of the Queen's Majestie at Sandesfoot Castle", MP for Weymouth and Recorder of Lyme, and died in 1584.

[24] A 1905 brass plaque on the south wall commemorates Admiral Sir George Somers, founder of the English colony of Bermuda, who died in 1610.

[25][Note 3] Another plaque commemorates Victoria Cross recipient Edgar Christopher Cookson who was killed at the Battle of Es Sinn in 1915.