Читать книгу Betjeman’s Best British Churches - Richard Surman - Страница 16
ОглавлениеBRENTOR: ST MICHAEL – a spectacular setting on the fringes of Dartmoor, with views over Devon and west to Cornwall
The popular idea of this large south-western county is not far from the right one. The steeply banked lane, stuffed with fern and foxglove and honeysuckle, winds down through oaks which interlace their lichened branches to an old stone bridge over a stream which babbles against boulders. Soon we come to the barton or farm, pink-washed and snug, cob-walled and thickly thatched among its steep little fields of red earth. On the hill-slope higher up is the village. Here are thatched walls too, and cob cottages with rounded corners and bulging hearths and hollyhocks and fuchsias in the garden. Out of the sycamores near the hill-top peep the tall pinnacles of a thin church tower.
Inside the church, low 15th-century arcades of clustered columns support a barrel-shaped wooden roof whose timbers are carved. And right across the east end, for we do not expect to see a chancel arch in Devon, will be a wooden screen with carved base and painted saints on its panels, and through the wooden tracery above the panels we can see the altar. Above the tracery is a beam carved with grapes and vine leaves from which wooden vaults over-arch to support a loft which has painted panels. Above this once stood the rood, looking down the chancel into the nave. And out into the scented warmth of the churchyard we will go, back to the village for Devonshire tea, with strawberries and cream, where people will call us ‘my dear’.
Such places may indeed be found inland in south Devon. This part of the county has luscious vegetation; flowers seem bigger and brighter than in the rest of England, and the sheltered estuaries on the south coast are almost tropical. But the uplands of west Devon are bare and flattened, to quote the historian Sir John Fortescue, ‘between the hammer of west wind and the anvil of the yellow clay’. Even so the stony valley villages have the sheltered look of the south. But there are other sorts of Devon scenery: Exmoor with its smooth moorlands; Dartmoor with its sharp outcrops of granite; Lynton and Lynmouth with their Alpine steeps; south-coast seaside towns like Sidmouth, Teignmouth, Dawlish and Torquay, where stucco Georgian terraces and Gothic cottages look through boughs of ilex to the Channel. In Plymouth one can find maritime Georgian at its best. The city was formed from the amalgamation of three towns: Devonport, of marble pavements and Greek Revival public buildings; slate-hung Stonehouse, with its Royal William victualling yard; and Plymouth itself, old as the sea, pseudo-simple in its arid new centre. At Tiverton there is fine architectural evidence of a long-prosperous agricultural market town.
Nearly all the old churches of Devon were rebuilt or enlarged in the 15th century. The inspiration behind Exeter Cathedral, with its square Norman towers and beautiful nave and choir, rebuilt in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and behind that miniature cathedral, the collegiate church of Ottery St Mary, did not survive into the 15th-century prosperity of country parishes, for it was monastic in origin. The 15th-century Devon churches have the low West Country proportions of Exeter Cathedral and Ottery, but they are much of a pattern. The towers, though often graceful, have less variety than those of Somerset.
Devonians seem to have been primarily carvers of wood and stone, and only secondarily architects. Almost every old church has remains of wooden screens or pulpits or benches. Painting seems to have interested them less than carving, and screen-painting is not as impressive as that of East Anglia. The county was conservative and Catholic, and in 1549 the Prayer Book Rebellion, a gallant attempt to reinstate the old missal after the Reformation, started at St Andrew’s Church in Sampford Courtenay. Love of the old ways probably accounts for the survival of screens in so many churches, and even the building of them as late as the 18th century, as at Cruwys Morchard. But it does not account for the disappearance of almost all old stained glass in the county.
In the 19th century, Devon was High Church under the autocratic reign of the great Bishop Philpotts, ‘Henry of Exeter’. It is not surprising, therefore, to find work of the London Tractarian architects, Street and Butterfield, and the talented local church architect, F. Hayward, building new churches and making good use of the various marbles available in the county. Plymouth remained what it had long been, Puritan and iconoclastic.
Devon is different from the rest of Britain. It is brighter-coloured, more West Country than Somerset, where one still feels the pull of Bristol, and less Celtic than sea-swept Cornwall. Exeter is not only its county and cathedral town – vilely developed of recent years on its outskirts, and in the centre – but it is the capital of a country, the country of Devon, and the mother city of the ancient Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia.
ASHCOMBE † St Nectan
8m/13km S. of Exeter
OS SX912795 GPS 50.6056N, 3.5386W
At the head of the long combe of Dawlish Water stands this originally small 13th-century cruciform church – traces seen in the tower, S. transept and chancel. In the 15th century the Kirkhams enlarged the N. transept into an aisle. Salvin’s renovation of 1824–5 removed much of its medieval character, including the rood screen, though the carved 15th-century bench-ends remain. It is now light, charming, and Gothic, with delicate plaster panelling and colouring everywhere. The adjacent vicarage is of the same happy period.
ASHTON † St John the Baptist
5m/8km S.W. of Exeter
OS SX856846 GPS 50.6506N, 3.6194W
A singularly attractive church in every way and worth going 50 miles to see. It lies on the luxuriant W. slopes of Haldon, where they cascade down to the Teign Valley. Entirely rebuilt and refurnished between about 1400 and 1485, Ashton is the ‘typical’ Devonshire church at its best and unrestored, although late 19th-century work replaced parts of the building. The plastered walls and white Beer-stone arcade set off the rich colouring of the medieval screens, glass and wall-paintings. The lavish carved woodwork so characteristic of Devon churches is here in abundance. The 15th-century rood screen and parclose screens have some of the best figure-paintings in Devon, especially those on the N. parclose screen and on back of the aisle screen. Carved bench-ends, heraldic glass and wall-painting are all of same period. There is an Elizabethan pulpit with canopy, 17th-century communion rails and a wooden monument to Sir George Chudleigh, 1657, who lived nearby. Note also the original 15th-century S. door and wagon roofs. The groined canopy of the rood screen, added in 1908, alone mars the scene.
ATHERINGTON † St Mary
7m/11km S. of Barnstaple
OS SS591231 GPS 50.9902N, 4.0087W
Located on a hilltop in the village, the fabric is not exciting structurally, mostly plain Devon Perpendicular over-restored by Pearson, 1884. It is notable, however, for its screens, original wagon roofs and fine series of 15th-century carved and crocketed bench-ends. The N. aisle screen, all that remains of a screen that once spanned the N. aisle and chancel, supports a fine rich original rood loft, the only one left in Devon, the work of John Parres, c. 1530. The chancel section of the screen was replaced c. 1800 by an inferior and earlier type from Umberleigh Chapel nearby. There is an altar tomb to Sir John Bassett and his two wives, as well as 13th- and 14th-century effigies.
BABBACOMBE † All Saints
Adjoins Torquay to N.
OS SX924652 GPS 50.4774N, 3.5167W
This is a fine example of a Butterfield Gothic Revival church, 1868–74, incorporating polychromatic Devon marbles, notably in the pulpit, font and chancel floor. The mosaics behind the high altar are by A. Salviati.
BERE FERRERS † St Andrew
7m/11km S. of Tavistock
OS SX459634 GPS 50.4503N, 4.1714W
Mostly rebuilt about 1300–30, St Andrew’s is unusual for Devon in retaining so much 14th-century work. Note the early 14th-century glass in the E. window, with interesting and varied tracery – Reticulated, Perpendicular and Intersecting. There are also early 16th-century benches, with Ferrers heraldry carved on one, and the tombs of the Ferrers, who built the church and lived in the medieval house nearby. The handsome table-tomb in the N. transept is that of Lord Willoughby de Broke, 1522. The lovely estuary of the River Tavy should be seen here.
ASHTON: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – Devon through and through, with rustic plastered walls, sublime wood carving on the screens and good quality panel-painting too
BRANSCOMBE † St Winifred
5m/8km E. of Sidmouth
OS SY195884 GPS 50.6902N, 3.1403W
A delightful place sited in a combe about a mile back from the sea in a long, narrow village, this church is important for the antiquary, as it shows a process of continuous development from the 11th century to the 16th, though the dominant features are the crossing tower, mostly Norman, the 13th-century work in transepts and nave, and the 14th-century chancel. The woodwork is worth studying, especially the Elizabethan W. gallery, the communion rails enclosing the table on four sides, the excellent three-decker pulpit – rare in Devon – and the box pews in the N. transept. There are monuments to the Wadhams and other local gentry.
ASHTON: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – the figure painting on the screens shows a deftness of touch and an expressive quality
BRAUNTON † St Brannock
5m/8km N.W. of Barnstaple
OS SS489370 GPS 51.1130N, 4.1598W
Set in the largest village in Devon, now virtually a suburb of Barnstaple, St Brannock’s is a large barn-like church, not very prepossessing but well worth visiting. The Celtic missionary-saint Brannoc (who came across from South Wales) founded a minster here in the 6th century and is almost certainly buried under the high altar. The present church is mostly 13th-century, but with much later detail. Note the Norman S. tower with lead-covered broach spire. The remarkably wide nave is covered by a fine roof enriched with 15th-century bosses, including one of a sow feeding her litter. The N. transept gallery was the private pew of the Snow family.
BRENTOR † St Michael
5m/8km N. of Tavistock
OS SX470804 GPS 50.6033N, 4.1623W
A wonderful site, perched on the very summit of an extinct volcanic cone, 1,100 feet above the sea, St Michael’s has a lonely and remote setting, with views over half of Devon and Cornwall. The first church was founded here c. 1140 by the Gifford family, but most is 14th century and heavily restored by the Victorians.
BRIDFORD † St Thomas à Becket
4m/6km E. of Moretonhampstead
OS SX816863 GPS 50.6650N, 3.6766W
St Thomas à Becket is a granite Perpendicular church set in a granite village with Dartmoor in its views to the west. There is some late-medieval glass, carved stalls and bench-ends, wagon roofs and other medieval woodwork. Best of all is the splendid rood screen, made about 1530, which retains much of its soft, ancient colouring.
BUCKLAND-IN-THE-MOOR † St Peter
3m/4km N.W. of Ashburton
OS SX720731 GPS 50.5440N, 3.8072W
In a romantic moorland setting in the National Park, St Peter’s is mostly 15th-century granite, with a carved Norman font and crude early 16th-century paintings. The 14th-century traceried screen is particularly fine, despite Fellowes Fynne’s intrusive restoration: an interesting if unnecessary jigsaw of the old and new.
BURRINGTON † Holy Trinity
4m/6km N.W. of Chulmleigh
OS SS637166 GPS 50.9332N, 3.9400W
Largely 15th-century Perpendicular with good woodwork, Holy Trinity was restored in 1884. The tower is earlier: 13th- to 14th-century with a 15th-century top stage. Inside is a well-preserved screen with carved pomegranates and inverted Green Men, and a traceried S. door. The N. and S. ceilings have Tudor angels and bosses.
CADELEIGH † St Bartholomew
4m/6km S.W. of Tiverton
OS SS914079 GPS 50.8605N, 3.5444W
Well-set with good views. The church is mainly 15th-century, but the inside walls are decorated with plaster panels from the mid-18th century, when the box pews were fitted. In the N. aisle is a fine canopied altar tomb to Sir Simon and Lady Catherine Leach.
CHERITON BISHOP † St Mary
6m/10km S.W. of Crediton
OS SX773935 GPS 50.7287N, 3.7395W
Set in a tight fold between hills, the church has a good collection of fittings: a Norman font, 16th-century pulpit, coloured rood screen, bench-ends and a rare Elizabethan painted Royal Arms over the S. door.
CHULMLEIGH † St Mary Magdalene
8m/12km S. of South Molton
OS SS686141 GPS 50.9119N, 3.8693W
Standing high above the River Dart, this church was collegiate from the 13th century, but its fabric dates mainly from the 15th century now. It has a tall W. tower and a long and notably complete rood screen. The chancel tiles and fittings are by Gould, 1879–81, all set off with Hardman glass.
COLDRIDGE † St Matthew
20m/32km N.W. of Exeter
OS SS698076 GPS 50.8537N, 3.8504W
Both church and village are set on the summit of a high ridge, with views across to Dartmoor. Some Norman work, but mostly late 15th- to early 16th-century. Highly interesting contents include medieval screens (flamboyant work in the parclose screen as at Colebrooke), a fine medieval carved pulpit, late medieval bench-ends, tiles, glass, wagon-roofs with carved bosses, and the table-tomb of Sir John Evans, who gave many of the fittings in 1511–12.
COLEBROOKE † St Andrew
5m/8km W. of Crediton
OS SS769000 GPS 50.7867N, 3.7463W
The 14th-century church, enlarged in the 15th, stands boldly by itself. It has a good W. tower. The unusual, crudely carved bench-ends date from the late 15th century, as do the fine screens – a rood with linenfold panelling, and screens to the Copelstone Chapel with an unusual Curvilinear design.
COMBE MARTIN † St Peter
4m/7km E. of Ilfracombe
OS SS586463 GPS 51.1984N, 4.0248W
St Peter’s is set in a rather dull village but is an unusual and pleasing example of the old and new. The rood screen, decorated with painted saints, has contemporary carved saints in the niches. The loft is by Herbert Read, 1911, the reredos by Doris Downing, 1972, and the rood figures above the screen by Colin Shewring are inspired by an illustration from the Book of Hours.
CORNWORTHY † St Peter
4m/6km S.E. of Totnes
OS SX829555 GPS 50.3881N, 3.6479W
This is a 15th-century building in a Dartside village, with a Norman font and much-restored medieval screen. Most of the rest of the interior dates from 1788, with later modifications, including the box pews, a canopied pulpit, altarpiece, clear glass and altered window tracery. Delightful repose everywhere, and quite unharmed by Victorian meddlers.
CREDITON: HOLY CROSS – at ease in the afternoon sunlight, the recumbent figure of Sir John Sully on his late 14th-century tomb
CREDITON † Holy Cross
8m/12km N.W. of Exeter
OS SS836002 GPS 50.7897N, 3.6522W
A splendid collegiate church in a sleepy little town, Holy Cross is the successor to a Saxon minster and cathedral. Built of red sandstone, it has a Norman central tower incongruously set within a mainly 15th-century Perpendicular fabric. The clerestory is very beautiful; unusual even in good Devon churches. The unfortunate memorial by Caroe above the chancel arch to Sir Redvers Buller, who was vastly admired by Devonians if not by the outside world, is described by the writer Simon Jenkins as a ‘mix of Perpendicular and Pre-Raphaelite in what could be the backdrop for an Arthurian romance’. Other examples of Gothic revivalism are here too. Original Gothic is represented in the sedilia, carved figures in the vaulting and traces of early paintwork. There are tombs for Sir John Sully, 1387, Sir William Peryam, 1604, and John Tuckfield, 1630.
CRUWYS MORCHARD † Holy Cross
5m/8km W. of Tiverton
OS SS874121 GPS 50.8980N, 3.6021W
Highly ‘atmospherick’, for it stands beside the ancient house of the Cruwys family who have lived there since the 12th century. Mostly 14th-century and early 16th, the interior is nevertheless quite Georgian in feeling, all done after the great fire of 1689, with plastered walls, a remarkable Georgian chancel and parclose screens. The chancel fittings show continuity of traditional forms. The cut-down box pews are all named, some marked as being for boys, others for girls.
CULLOMPTON † St Andrew
5m/8km S.E. of Tiverton
OS ST021071 GPS 50.8558N, 3.3910W
Another splendid town church, but unlike Crediton, St Andrew’s is 15th- and 16th-century Perpendicular. The fine red tower – one of the things one looks for from the train dashing down to Exeter – was finished in 1549. The second S. aisle was built in 1526 by John Lane, a wealthy cloth merchant. A rich fan-traceried roof has carvings of ships, sheep-shears, and so forth. The gorgeous coloured roof runs unbroken throughout the entire length of the church, and the splendid coloured rood screen runs across its entire width. Cullompton brings home to one the lavish colour of a medieval church against the white background of the Beer-stone arcades.
DARTMOUTH † St Petrox
7m/11km S.E. of Totnes
OS SX886503 GPS 50.3422N, 3.5661W
A splendid site at the very mouth of the Dart, the church makes a highly effective grouping with the castle and the wooded cliffs. This is an ancient Christian site, but the present church was entirely rebuilt in Gothic style, 1641–2, with much woodwork of that period and fine brasses to Dartmouth merchants.
DODDISCOMBSLEIGH † St Michael
6m/10km S.W. of Exeter
OS SX857865 GPS 50.6674N, 3.6179W
The N. aisle of this church has the best medieval glass in Devon outside Exeter Cathedral. A set of five large Perpendicular windows are painted in pale yellow and white with touches of red, green and blue. Here are delicately drawn saints, the Seven Sacraments and heraldry.
EXETER † St David
St David’s Hill
OS SX915931 GPS 50.7274N, 3.5382W
W. D. Caroe’s best church, 1897–1900, St David is a Romantic essay much influenced by the Celtic twilight as well as Art Nouveau. The interior is gargantuan in its expression, with powerful limestone ribs accentuating the bays of the narrow aisles and timber tunnel vault. The tall reredos is also by Caroe; the glass by the Kempe Studio.
EXETER † St Mary Arches
Mary Arches Street
OS SX918925 GPS 50.7223N, 3.5338W
Restored in 1950 by S. Dykes-Bower after war-time bomb damage, it is the only Devon parish church to retain two full Norman arcades, with plain piers and square scalloped capitals. The reredos, altar and rails date from 1696. There are many fine monuments to most of the mayors of Exeter. The rebuilt barrel-vaulted roof uses timbers recovered from a U.S. landing craft. Externally the church was poorly served by its restoration, which used imitation stone.
GITTISHAM † St Michael
2m/3km S.W. of Honiton
OS SY133983 GPS 50.7784N, 3.2300W
Luxuriant colouring is everywhere in this cob and thatch village in deepest east Devon. St Michael’s is the usual Perpendicular village church, but the atmosphere is 18th-century with the box pews, ceiled roofs, hatchments and a gallery. There are several pleasant 16th- to 19th-century mural monuments.
HACCOMBE † St Blaise
3m/4km E. of Newton Abbot
OS SX898701 GPS 50.5212N, 3.5558W
In an estate setting in parkland of the Carews, St Michael’s is a small 14th-century church with bellcote, modest porch and brightly coloured lancet windows. The church is notable for its fine collection of medieval effigies and brasses, 13th- to 17th-century, of various lords of Haccombe and members of the Carew family. There is some 14th-century glass, a stone screen, pulpit and reredos by Kendall of Exeter, 1821–2.
HARBERTON † St Andrew
2m/3km S.W. of Totnes
OS SX778586 GPS 50.4150N, 3.7209W
A large, unspoilt village in a fertile landscape, and a splendid 14th–15th-century church, with a handsome tower and a fine late-medieval rood screen; the vaulting and cornices are especially rich. The saints and angels depicted in the lower screen panels are said to be modelled on young ladies of the congregation in 1870, and are on metal plates. Some of the original painted wooden panels of saints thankfully survive, and can be seen on the N. aisle. The pulpit is 15th-century, octagonal and carved – one of Devon’s best. The richly painted 17th-century panels are of the Apostles, possibly replacing figures lost after the Reformation.
HARFORD † St Petroc
10m/16km E. of Plymouth
OS SX638594 GPS 50.4193N, 3.9181W
A 15th-century moorland church, it stands on the edge of Dartmoor and has a modest W. tower and ceiled wagon roofs. There is a tomb chest of 1566 with a brass of Thomas Williams, Speaker of the House of Commons.
HARTLAND † St Nectan
12m/19km N. of Bude
OS SS235247 GPS 50.9949N, 4.5165W
Not in the old borough but two miles W. at Stoke, overlooking the open, restless Atlantic; the tower was built as a landmark for mariners. It is a large 14th-century church with late 15th-century embellishments. The Norman font is splendid, as are the carved bench-ends of 1530; the wagon roofs are partly ceiled and coloured. The priest’s chamber above the N. porch is where the poet Parson Hawker wrote The Cell by the Sea in the 19th century. There are numerous modest little monuments and ledger slabs to local gentry, in which the parish abounded for centuries. The magnificent late 15th-century rood screen spans the entire width of the church.
HEANTON PUNCHARDON
† St Augustine
4m/6km N.W. of Barnstaple
OS SS502355 GPS 51.1000N, 4.1406W
Set above an estuary, St Augustine’s is mostly late medieval with a plastered interior and richly carved Perpendicular tomb to Richard Coffin, d. 1523, in the N. wall of the chancel.
HIGH BICKINGTON † St Mary
7m/11km S. of Barnstaple
OS SS599205 GPS 50.9670N, 3.9963W
St Mary’s, like so many in north Devon, is a hill-top church. The 12th-century building was altered and enlarged in the early 14th and early 16th centuries; the original wagon roofs were restored in the 19th century. There is a magnificent series of about 70 carved bench-ends of two distinct types: late Gothic, c. 1500, and Renaissance, c. 1530.
CULLOMPTON: ST ANDREW – the carved Beer-stone arcades, with a view through to the Lane Aisle, the skull and cross bones of a Gothic Golgotha at its west end
HITTISLEIGH † St Andrew
7m/11km S.W. of Crediton
OS SX733954 GPS 50.7448N, 3.7962W
An ordinary little Devonshire farmers’ church in lonely country bordering Dartmoor, St Andrew’s has been restored late and lovingly. The nave and chancel are late 13th- or early 14th-century, the granite aisle 16th-century and the tower late 15th-century. Inside are plastered, cream-washed walls, ceiled roofs with some carved bosses, and the usual floor-slabs to Tudor and Stuart yeomen and small gentry of the parish. An endearing little church.
HOLBETON † All Saints
10m/16km E. of Plymouth
OS SX613501 GPS 50.3352N, 3.9503W
This simple church stands on a slope above the village. Sedding did the very good restoration for the Mildmay family and, as well as restoring the old, introduced a fine Arts and Craft feel. The carved bench ends, chancel roof and sedilia all bear Sedding’s touch. The screens are post-Reformation, with fine tight-carved tracery. It’s a pity he didn’t attend to the glass, which is poor. In the N. chapel is a memorial to Sir Thomas Hele; all 22 of his children are shown praying.
HONEYCHURCH † St Mary
7m/11km N.E. of Okehampton
OS SS629028 GPS 50.8086N, 3.9470W
Far from any village and as delightful as its place name, St Mary is a simple Norman building, done up in the 15th century and given three new bells, new benches and a little tower – all still there. The pulpit is Elizabethan; the Norman font has a Jacobean cover. The blackest-hearted pagan would smile at Honeychurch as he pushed open the door and saw this touching little interior.
HORWOOD † St Michael
3m/4km E. of Bideford
OS SS502276 GPS 51.0290N, 4.1373W
A delightful little church up in the hills; again no village. All dates from about 1500, decently kept. The mid-15th-century alabaster effigy of a lady is probably Elizabeth Pollard, hence the Pollard Aisle. There are 16th-century bench-ends, 17th-century altar rails, some medieval glass and tiles, and numerous floor-slabs and memorials to centuries of squires. Nothing at Horwood is outstanding, but all is in rustic harmony.
KENTISBEARE † St Mary
6m/10km N.W. of Honiton
OS ST068081 GPS 50.8650N, 3.3257W
This is a good Perpendicular church throughout in luxuriant countryside. Its beautiful checkered tower is of red sandstone and white Beer-stone. A pier capital in the S. aisle has a carved ship and woolpack, and the early 16th-century rood screen is one of the county’s best. There is also refined tracery and some original colour, and a fine W. gallery of 1632.
KENTON † All Saints
4m/6km N. of Dawlish
OS SX957833 GPS 50.6401N, 3.4750W
A fine late 14th-century church in a large, rich village. This is red sandstone country, and the church is built of it to a fully aisled Devonshire plan at its best. There is a handsome tower and S. porch, and a Beer-stone arcade with carved capitals. The massive and stately rood screen and loft were restored by Read of Exeter; he also restored the fine medieval pulpit. Henry Wilson made the central cross.
MANATON † St Winifred
3m/4km S. of Moretonhampstead
OS SX749812 GPS 50.6178N, 3.7690W
St Winifrid’s is an engaging granite church in a picturesque village. The tower and nave were much repaired after storm damage in 1779. The celebrated 11-bay rood screen is enriched by painted panels of saints and, unexpectedly, small statuettes above the central doorway.
MARYSTOW † St Mary the Virgin
6m/10km N.W. of Tavistock
OS SX434828 GPS 50.6244N, 4.2144W
In a lonely setting among the trees, the church has remains of a Norman S. doorway and an early 14th-century chancel. There is a good free-standing monument to Sir Thomas Wyse, d. 1629.
MOLLAND † St Mary
6m/10km E. of South Molton
OS SS807283 GPS 51.0425N, 3.7018W
St Mary’s stands on the Exmoor foothills in quiet farmland. An unremarkable 15th-century exterior, but inside is Georgian and complete – plastered and whitewashed, with a three-decker pulpit, box pews and ceiled roofs. The chancel is shut off by a rustic 18th-century ‘screen’ with plastered tympanum above. There are 17th- and 18th-century monuments to the recusant Courtenay family, lords of the manor.
MORTEHOE † St Mary the Virgin
4m/6km W. of Ilfracombe
OS SS456451 GPS 51.1851N, 4.2093W
A wild windswept outcrop close by the Atlantic coast is the setting for this dark, cruciform church, of an older period than usual in Devon. It has largely escaped the restorer and is mostly Early English. The two-bay N. aisle is rustic; the S. aisle more refined, with Perpendicular windows illuminating a strange passage connecting transept and nave. In the S. transept is the traceried tomb chest of Rector William de Tracey, d. 1322. The chancel arch is filled with a memorial mosaic by Selwyn Image.
NEWTON ST CYRES
† St Cyres and St Julitta
3m/4km S.E. of Crediton
OS SX879979 GPS 50.7707N, 3.5907W
On a bold site above an unusually attractive village of cob and thatch, the church, of local volcanic stone, dates from the early 15th century. The arcade is of Beer-stone. There is an 18th-century canopied pulpit and striking monuments to Northcotes, especially that of John Northcote, d. 1632, a lifesize male figure, seemingly in Wellington boots.
NORTH BOVEY † St John the Baptist
2m/3km S.W. of Moretonhampstead
OS SX739838 GPS 50.6405N, 3.7842W
An attractive green village with old oaks. The chancel is 13th-century, otherwise this is a 15th-century granite church with broad low interior, ceiled wagon roofs and a good screen with statuettes under crocketed canopies similar to those at Manaton.
OTTERY ST MARY † St Mary the Virgin
11m/18km E. of Exeter
OS SY098955 GPS 50.7528N, 3.2792W
This is a grand town church of even higher rank than Crediton and Cullompton. With a somewhat French exterior and collegiate in appearance, it was closely modelled on Exeter Cathedral by the munificent Bishop Grandisson, who rebuilt the original church in 1342. The Dorset Aisle with its beautiful fan-vaulted roof was added in about 1520. The interior is all impressive with much detail for study: the roof-bosses in the crossing vault are particularly fine. Dating from the 14th century are the clock in the S. transept, the excellent canopied tombs of Sir Otho de Grandisson, d.1359, and his wife, Lady Beatrix de Grandisson, choir-stalls, altar screen, sedilia, minstrels’ gallery and wooden eagle given by Bishop Grandisson. There was a thorough restoration by Blore and Butterfield in 1850; they did less harm than might be expected. The same could not be said for the 1977 repainting, which is disturbing and disruptive.
PAIGNTON † St John the Baptist
3m/4km S.W. of Torquay
OS SX886608 GPS 50.4368N, 3.5695W
Mainly 15th-century, St John the Baptist retains some 12th-century remains of the previous church. The long interior is a cheerful mix of red sandstone and white plasterwork. A medieval stone pulpit has ogee panelling, and the sedilia is very good Victorian Decorated. The Kirkham chantry screen, c. 1526, is one of the finest in the country – a mass of carved figures, fan vaults and gables. In the two side arches are tombs of the Kirkham family.
PARRACOMBE † St Petrock
4m/6km S.W. of Lynton
OS SS674449 GPS 51.1884N, 3.8978W
Churches Conservation Trust
John Ruskin saved this outwardly plain church from destruction when a new church was built close by in 1870. It has a completely unspoiled whitewashed Georgian interior; everything is irregular and just as it was 200 years ago, including the box pews, a screen with tympanum above, set with Royal Arms, commandments, creed and Lord’s Prayer. Elsewhere are hat pegs, text boards and mural tablets to local yeomen. The walls and ceilings are whitewashed and there are some 16th-century benches. At the W. end are five raked box pews for the church band and children.
MOLLAND: ST MARY – a lovely Georgian interior, the box pews like flood water surrounding the outward-leaning pillars of the 15th-century arcade
PLYMOUTH † St Andrew
Catherine Street
OS SX479543 GPS 50.3698N, 4.1398W
A fine 15th-century town church, St Andrew’s was gutted in 1941 during the war, but beautifully restored by Frederick Etchells. The W. window is by John Piper.
PLYMTREE † St John the Baptist
8m/13km N.W. of Honiton
OS ST051029 GPS 50.8179N, 3.3474W
One of the most attractive medieval interiors in Devon, with excellent woodwork, coloured capitals in the arcade and original colouring. The screen is very fine with its faded gilding and intricate carving. There are paintings of 34 saints, rustic but charming.
REVELSTOKE
† St Peter the Poor Fisherman
Noss Mayo, 10m/16km S.W. of Plymouth
OS SX563464 GPS 50.3004N, 4.0177W
Churches Conservation Trust
Dramatically sited on the cliff-edge overlooking the estuary is this medieval church with Saxon origins. Rather romantic in its part-ruined state, the nave and chancel are roofless, whilst the aisle and porch have fine carved medieval roofs. Open air services are held twice a year.
SALCOMBE REGIS † St Peter
2m/3km N.E. of Sidmouth
OS SY148888 GPS 50.6929N, 3.2071W
Set in a combe, St Peter’s has Norman work including the circular piers of the N. arcade with scalloped capitals, and the ghost of a doorway in the chancel S. wall. There is a 15th-century oak lectern.
SAMPFORD COURTENAY
† St Andrew
5m/8km N.E. of Okehampton
OS SS632012 GPS 50.7948N, 3.9418W
In a cheerful whitewashed cob and thatch village, St Andrew’s is silvery granite and mostly early 15th-century, with an elegant lichened tower. The interior is spacious and light with much clear glass, which suits a granite interior. Part of the S. arcade is very beautiful dove-grey Polyphant stone from east Cornwall. There is a screen in the S. aisle – a fragment of the original that spanned the width of the church – a Norman font, and carved bosses and wall-plates to the roofs. The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 began and ended here.
SANDFORD † St Swithun
2m/3km N.W. of Crediton
OS SS828025 GPS 50.8104N, 3.6639W
The church has an elaborate W. gallery of 1657 with carved arcaded front and fluted columns, conservative for the date, and fine 16th-century bench-end.
SHALDON † St Peter
On S. side of R. Teign, connected by bridge to Teignmouth
OS SX931724 GPS 50.5421N, 3.5093W
By E. H. Sedding, 1893–1902, this is a superb Arts and Crafts church in banded red sandstone and grey limestone, overlooking the Teign estuary. The majestic interior is alive with colour and craftsmanship. Note the outstanding pulpit and the altar in the apsidal E end.
SIDBURY † St Peter & St Giles
3m/4km N. of Sidmouth
OS SY139917 GPS 50.7190N, 3.2201W
In an attractive village setting, this is an intriguing structure with plain Saxon crypt and Norman tower adorned with two repositioned statues. The main part of the church has Norman origins, but there has been a 15th-century reworking. Inside are good wagon roofs and late Kempe glass.
OTTERY ST MARY – the tomb of a knight: Sir Otto de Grandisson, d. 1359
STOWFORD † St John
7m/11km E. of Launceston
OS SX432870 GPS 50.6617N, 4.2189W
In a fold of hills, St John’s is Perpendicular, thoroughly restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1874. There are good wagon roofs and profuse Victorian woodwork. Monuments include a Baroque marble sculpture of a diminutive Mr Harris posed as a Roman soldier in full-bottomed wig.
SUTCOMBE † St Andrew
5m/8km N. of Holsworthy
OS SS346116 GPS 50.8808N, 4.3512W
Sutcombe is a dullish village in a remote, unvisited part of Devon, but it has an excellent granite church. Part of the church is Norman, otherwise it is mostly late 15th- to early 16th-century. There is a large collection of early 16th-century carved bench-ends commemorating local families of Norman origin. The 16-sided pulpit bears fine carving by a local man, and there are many late medieval floor tiles of Barnstaple manufacture. Granite, sandstone and oak are the predominant materials.
SWIMBRIDGE: ST JAMES THE APOSTLE – the magnificent full-width rood screen, in which the most recent repairs are both easy to identify and appreciate
SWIMBRIDGE † St James the Apostle
5m/8km S.E. of Barnstaple
OS SS620299 GPS 51.0527N, 3.9689W
Known as the ‘hunting’ vicar’s church, St James the Apostle’s was restored in the 19th century by Jack Russell, its lively and keen hunter vicar. It has one of the three medieval spires of north Devon. The tower and leaded broach spire are 14th-century; the rest is 15th. Furnishings are unusually rich and interesting, including a stone pulpit, c. 1490, with some original colour, a splendid 15th-century rood screen, restored by Pearson, and a remarkable Renaissance font cover. There are some bench-ends and wagon roofs.
TAWSTOCK † St Peter
2m/3km S. of Barnstaple
OS SS559299 GPS 51.0506N, 4.0561W
St Peter’s is a fine cruciform church, nearly all 14th-century (and therefore unusual in Devon) in the former park of the earls of Bath, with a good Georgian rectory some way off. Those who like church monuments will be rewarded at Tawstock – it has a splendid collection, mainly of the earls and countesses of Bath, their connections and household officers. In the N. transept is a ceiling of Italian plasterwork, medieval glass, a beautiful 16th-century gallery, a Renaissance manorial pew of the earls of Bath, carved bench-ends and monuments. In the S. transept are a similar ceiling and monuments. In the S. chancel aisle is a fine open roof, c. 1540, Burman’s figure of Rachel, Countess of Bath, 1680, and the tomb of Lady Fitzwarren, 1589, which carries a most beautiful effigy.
TEIGNMOUTH † St James
15m/24km S. of Exeter
OS SX939730 GPS 50.5480N, 3.4983W
Except for its 13th-century sandstone W. tower, the church was rebuilt c. 1821 by W. E. Rolfe, a pupil of Soane. Octagonal in shape, it has a delightful light and airy interior with slender clustered cast-iron piers supporting a lantern.
TIVERTON † St George
12m/19km N. of Exeter
OS SS954124 GPS 50.9021N, 3.4885W
The best Georgian church in Devon, by John James, 1714–30, its symmetrical yellow sandstone exterior has rusticated quoins. Inside are Ionic columns, galleries and panelling.
TORBRYAN † Holy Trinity
4m/6km S. W. of Newton Abbot
OS SX819668 GPS 50.4894N, 3.6650W
Churches Conservation Trust
An imposing Perpendicular exterior gives no hint of what bursts upon the eye on pushing open the door – the most completely characteristic Devon interior in plan, fittings, colour and atmosphere. The first impression is of uninterrupted light from the large windows of clear glass, whitened walls and ceilings, and the white Beer-stone arcades. Then against this background is the vivid colouring of the rood screen, pulpit and altar, nearly all 15th-century, though the altar is actually made up from the original pulpit. 18th-century box pews encase earlier benches and have brass candle-holders, all very charming.
TORQUAY † St John the Evangelist
Montpellier Road
OS SX918636 GPS 50.4627N, 3.5246W
Torquay’s magnificent high church, by G. E. Street, 1861–71, dominates the harbour. There is extensive use of Devon marble, a rare total immersion font, mosaic panels by Burne-Jones and Salviati, and Morris glass.
UPTON HELLIONS † St Mary the Virgin
2m/3km N. of Crediton
OS SS842033 GPS 50.8176N, 3.6449W
This unsophisticated country church is set in deep country, though not far from Exeter. Plastered and whitewashed walls, always a good start for a country church, support 15th-century wagon roofs; there are some carved benches of the same date. The pulpit is Georgian and a country-made monument commemorates a country squire and his wife.
UPTON PYNE † Church of Our Lady
3m/4km N. of Exeter
OS SX910977 GPS 50.7687N, 3.5468W
In a setting near cottages, the church is built of ‘trap’, a local volcanic stone. The 14th-century W. tower is unusually decorated with figures of the four evangelists, set in niches above the buttresses. Inside, set into the S. wall, are two canopied 16th-century tombs of the Larder family. The attractive interior was restored in 1867–8.
WEST OGWELL † Dedication unknown
4m/6km W. of Newton Abbot
OS SX818700 GPS 50.5183N, 3.6677W
Churches Conservation Trust
This delightful little church stands in a park, an unaltered early 14th-century cruciform building with a late-Georgian interior. The plastered and whitened walls, clear glass, box pews, altar rails and Jacobean pulpit are all very appealing.
WIDECOMBE-IN-THE-MOOR
† St Pancras
5m/8km N.W. of Ashburton
OS SX718767 GPS 50.5768N, 3.8108W
A fine granite church in the heart of Dartmoor, it is best seen in winter against the austere lines of the moorland above. It is essentially early 14th-century cruciform; the original transepts enlarged into aisles in the late 15th century or early 16th. This was a common development in the larger Devon churches, which are not as purely Perpendicular as they seem. Widecombe has a noble tower – granite at its most graceful, and odd for such a remote village – probably built by prosperous tinners. The surviving dado of the rood screen has 32 figure-paintings. In the W. end is a small village museum.
