I
STUDIES OF SOME
OF TF[E
ANCIENT BUILDINGS
K^^MM^^M '^fti^M'^m
■WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY
ALLEN T HUSSELL.ER.I.B.A
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE
NOETII DEVON CHURCHES.
STUDIES OF SOME OF TUE ANCIENT BUILDINGS.
BY
ALLEN T. IIUSSELL, f.k.i.b.a.
PRINTED AT THE "HERALD" PRESS, 10(5, HIG1[ STREET, RARNSTAPLE
COPYRIGHT.
CONTENTS.
BARNSTAPLE, Parish Church of St. Peter
ILFRACOMBE, Parish Church of the Holy Trinity
NORTH AM, Parish Church of St. Margaret
BIDEFORD, Parish Church of St. Mary ...
BRAUNTON, Parish Church of St. Brannock
BRAUNTON, Chapol of St. Brannock or St. Michael
CLOVELLY, Parish Church of AU Saints. . .
COMBE MARTIN, Parish Church of St. Peter ad Viucula
MORTEHOE, Parish Church of St. Mary ...
GREAT TORRINGTON, Parish Church of St. Michael
TADDIPORT, Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen
SOUTHMOLTON, Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalen
CREDITON, Parish Church of the Holy Cross
BERRYNARBOR, Parish Church of St. Peter
PILTON, Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
WESTDOWN, Parish Church of the Holy Trinity ...
SWYMBRIDGE, Parish Church of St. James
NORTHMOLTON, Parish Church of All Saints
HARTLAND, Parish Church of St. Nectan
TAWSTOCK, Parish Church of St. Peter
BISHOP'S TAWTON, Parish Church of St. John the Baptist
Page. 1
7
15
19
23
30
33
39
47
55
62
65
71
77
83
91
95
101
107
115
123
HEAD PIECES.
Page.
1. Piscina in chancel (Uth century), from Barnstaple Parish Church.
7. Angol figure in north porch (15th century), from Hfracomhe Parish Church.
15. Finial, from Cologne Cathedral precincts.
19. Ornament in string, from Exeter Cathedral precincts.
23. Corbel in nave roof (probably 14th century), from Ilfracombe Parish Church.
33. Lock plate on north door, from Louvain Cathedral.
39. Clerestory window iu south transept (Tudor), from St. Mary Kcdcliff Church, Bristol.
47. Bench-ond from Mortehoo Parish Church.
55. Eain-water pipe head, from Great Torrington Parish Church.
62. Corbel (14th century), from Croydon Parish Church.
65. Head of east door, from Louvaui Cathedral.
71. Bench-end, from Monkleigh Parish Church, N. Devon.
77. Corbel to south arcade of nave (I5th century), from Tor Mohun Parish Church, Torquay.
83. Norman doorway, between nave and tower, from Mortchoe Parish Church.
91. Part of west entrance wrought iron gate, from Jesuit Church, Antwerji.
95. Stop to hood-mould, west entrance (15th century), from Georgeham Parish Church, N. Devon
101. Eing and scutcheon on south door, from St. Mary's Church, Oxford.
107. Door in north transept, from Exeter Cathedral.
115. Corbel in cloisters (15th century), fr-om Westminster Abbey.
123. Ornament in arch mould, west entrance (15th century), from Georgeham Parish Church
TAIL PIECES.
Page.
5. Inscribed oak plate in nave, from Barnstaple Parish Church.
14. Angel figure in north porch (15th century), from Ilfracombe Parish Church.
18. Carved bosses Ln north porch (15th century), fr-om Ilfracombe Parish Church.
21. Corbel to nave vaulting (Tudor), St. Mary Eedcliff Church, Bristol.
32. The "Judas" bench-end, from Brauntou Parish Church.
37. Cap to nave pier; (an adjacent pier cap bears the date 1547), from Instow Parish Church, N. DevoiL
53. Seal of King John (1199-1216) 3 inches wide, from the Chapter House, Westminster Abbey.
Gl. Holy-water stoup, from St. Nicholas Church, Boulogne.
64. NoiTuan cap to nave pier, from St. Mary Arches Church, Exeter.
70. Spandrel in north transept (13th century), from Westminster Abbey.
76. Portion of Jacobean panelling to front of seat, from Combe Martin Parish Church.
89. Corbel (Transitional Norman), from Croydon Parish Church.
94. Bench-end (has been thought to represent the triumph of sacred music over profane mtustrelsey.
The figure in the lower half appears to be holding a bag-pipe.), from Marwood Parish Church N. Devon.
100. Ornament in string, from Exeter Cathedral precincts.
105. Boss on north aisle roof, from Heanton Punchardon Parish Church, N. Devon.
113. Hood-mould, south porch (Transitional Norman), from St. Michaels Chui'ch, Oxford.
„ Door-jamb mould, north-west entrance (Norman), from Canterbury Cathedral.
„ Mullion of vestry window (15th century), from Groat Torrington Parish Church.
121. Bench-end, from Wear Giftord Parish Church, N. Devon.
126. String in nave, fr-om Bath Abbey. On the cover. The font, Hartlaud Parish Church.
PREFACES.
0 many books concerning North Devon have been issued from the press during recent years that it might well have been pronounced impossible to produce another that should be in any way original, attractive, and interesting. But this seeming impossibility has been achieved by Mr. Hussell in his work entitled " North Devon Churches." The author possesses two special advantages — the professional knowledge of an architect with the skill of an artist, and thorough local knowledge. The former has enabled him to produce many representations and sketch plans of the churches, their windows, towers, tombs, corbels, screens, fonts, and other details ; while his local knowledge and patient research into original sources of information have saved him from falling into the blunders — often grotesque, always regrettable — which are found in the pages of some " Guide Books," written by strangers after a brief visit and a look into works out of date. The outcome of these qualifications is the production of a work most attractive in its illustrations, and interesting and instructive in its letterpress, both of which are highly creditable to the printers and publishers also. The number of churches treated is twenty-one. It may be confidently expected that the readers of this volume will ask for more, and it is to be hoped that the number of purchasers of this instalment will be such as to encourage Mr. Hussell and the publishers to satisfy the demand.
THOS. WAINWRIGHT. North Devon Athenaeum, Barnstaple.
HE Studies of some of the Ancient Parish Churches contained in the pages of this book, consist of historical records (where such exist) relating to the structures, gathered up from various sources, and supplemented by my own observations, sketches, and measurements. In most cases I have found the number of recorded ancient building and other dates to bo very scanty, very few having been handed down from the Gothic periods (13th, 14th, and 15th centuries) during which the buildings, as we now have them, were being developed. The general reader should be reminded that each period of Gothic Architecture had its particular conventional forms and details, which bore a general resemblance to each other, no matter what the distance may have been between the clmrches— e.g.. an ancient church, of a certain period, situated in the south of Englantl, will contain mouldings and other features of the same design and detail as those found in a north-country church of the same period. Why such a system prevailed has not been, so far as I know, satisfactorily determined — the secret still remains with the freemasons of the Middle Ages, who must have had close intercourse with each other. (The subject is a very interesting one, and has given rise to much speculation.)
Consequently, the reader will understand that it is quite possible by examining the details, and especially the mouldings, of an ancient chiu-ch — even in the absence of dates — to ascertain at about what time it was erected. By a close study of the archi- tecture of each church, assisted by comparing certain features in those churches
PBEFACES—{Cmtinued).
where no ancient dates of construction have been obtainable, with similar features in others where such dates have been preserved, I am able to give, with, I venture to think, considerable nearness, the dates at which the various parts of the structures were erected.
The work of preparing this book has extended, at intervals, over a period of two years, during which I have visited each church, and have studied, measured, and sketched the structures, their towers and most interesting features. No photographs have been taken, except the four forming the frontispiece. For head and tail pieces I have used sketches made by me on former home and foreign travels. The lists of vicars, etc., have been obtained, in gome cases, direct from the present incumbents ; and in others, from the lists hung up in the buildings, or from the sources named in the letterpress. Where no lists are given, the churches do not possess them, as the manuscripts have been lost or destroyed.
I desire to express my thanks to Mr. Thomas Wainwright, of the Barnstaple Athenaium, for giving me access to several books containing historical references bearing on some of the churches ; and also for information about several prominent persons of old times, who were associated with some of the parishes and churches ; to the Rev. Frank Nesbitt, vicar of Buckfastleigh, S. Devon, and formerly Curate of Ilfracombe Parish Church, for a sketch of the cross (now obliterated) on the ancient tombstone referred to in the Appendix ; to Mr. J. A. J. de Villiers of the British Museum, for his translation of the inscription on the Braunton chest ; to the clergy and sextons, who have given me many valuable bits of information ; to residents in several of the parishes, whose reminiscences have been found useful ; and last, but not least, to the many friends who have come forward as Subscribers to the book.
To conclude, ancient churches are beautiful and romantic links with the romantic past, giving traces (in many cases the only substantial ones we have left) of the lives which our forefathers led — sometimes found depicted, in their own way, in the carving or sculpture, or by wall and screen paintings ; sometimes conveyed in writing, by inscriptions on tombs or on monuments, and by entries in the parish registers and accounts. A book, such as is now before the reader, must of necessity be of a technical rather than a popular nature, and so may probably appeal principally to the architectural student ; yet it is hoped that the general reader will find interest in its pages, and much matter has been included of a non-technical nature, really inseparable from and necessary for the proper understanding of the architecture. The churches described are some of the best of those situated in the northern portion of our fair county. I believe ihis is the first attempt at bringing together, in book form, studies of this nature of a number of the Devon churches, illustrated by pen and ink sketches ; and although in their preparation the labour has been great, yet it has been most interesting, and I shall be well repaid if the reader finds pleasure and profit in the perusal of the book.
ALLEN T. HUSSELL. Ilfracombe, August, 1909.
built the residence
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HE busy and prosperous market town of Barnstaple and the agricultural cmporiuui of Nortli Devon is finely situated on the broad and beautiful estuary of the River Taw, about seven miles up from Barnstaple Bay, into which the river flows. It is a place of great antiquity, being formerly a demesne of the Saxon Kings ; and Athelstane is said to have castle — remains of which are still in existence and forming part of a now on the site. The town possesses a fine ancient bridge, enlarged and restored in the 19th century, and consisting of sixteen arches dating from the 13th century. It is almost as long and famous as Bideford Bridge ; and from it Tom Faggers — that most romantic of highwaymen — leaped his mare into the river to escape arrest. Tom's real name was Fergus, and he was once a blacksmith at South Molton. The church of St. Peter is situated nearly in the centre of the town, on a site between High Street and Boutport Street. It consists of a nave and chancel, with north and south aisles to each, a north transept and south steeple. It was restored during the period 1866 to 1882, at a oost of £4,000, by the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott, R.A. ; and, at the same time, the south wall was rebuilt and extended outwards. In 1820, galleries were erected, the seating accommodation being then increased to 1,400. The galleries were removed during the restoration, and the church has now sittings for about 900. The interior length is 121 feet 3 inches, and the width across nave and aisles 68 feet 2 inches. The registers date from the year 1538, and are perfect, excepting during five years of the Civil War. The original structure, erected in 1318 (Edward II.), consisted of the present nave, steeple and chancel. About the year 1G70 (Charles II.), nortli and south aisles were added to the nave and chancel. The style is I'crpcndicular, except the steeple, and there are remauis of Decorated or 14th century work. Traces of the lines of the 14th century roofs show in the walling of the nave and chancel gables ; and also the straight joints where the 17th century aisles join these walls. There is also a trace of what appears to have been a holy water stoup, now walled up at the right hand side of the west entrance. The chancel is very roomy, providing excellent choir accommodation, with a fine organ — the gift, in 1764, of Sir George Amyand, Bart., who was one of the M.P.'s for Barn- staple for the years 1759-60 (George II. and III.). The casing of the west front is very handsome, with carved corbels to the projecting portions, in tlie Renaissance style. The organ formerly stood at the west end of the nave, being placed in its present position in the north aisle of the chancel when the church was restored. The roofs are the usual Devonian cradle or wagon-shaped style. They are open- timbered throughout the entire building (no plastering being introduced in any part), and are ornamented with carved bosses, the chancel roof having, in addition, carved angel figures resting on plain stone corbels. The uniform design and construction
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
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of these roofs gives a grand effect to the interior of the church. A considerable amount of the old roofing remains, and is in a good state of preservation.
There are several stained glass windows. The one at the end of the south aisle of the chancel — a four-light memorial to Mr. Fred Lee, R.A. — is excellent, the subjects being scenes from the life of Christ, done in subdued tints, buff and brown pre- dominating. There is also a very nicely coloured four-light memorial window in the transept to Mr. R. Bremridge — a former M.P. for the borough.
The large west window was erected by the parishioners in remembrance of the recovery from fever, in 1871, of His Majesty King Edward VII. (the then Prince of Wales), the subjects being the raising of the widow's son at Nain, and five miracles of St. Peter and St. Paul. This window has been stated to be probably unique in its commemoration of the above event. The east window was erected in 1854.
The many fine mural monuments — several of which are to former Mayors of Barn- staple— are a great feature, some being very elaborate and richly decorated. They are principally of the 17th century, and show that the town of Barnstaple must have been a place of considerable commercial importance when our great northern towns were almost unknown. The one over the entrance to the south aisle of the chancel is very elegant, in the Italian Renaissance style, with finely under-cut carving, and another at the west end of the south aisle of the nave (to Richard Ferris, who was twice Mayor of the borough, and died in 1647) has two curiously carved swags with a pick and shovel, hour glass, cross-bones and coffin lid interlaced.
A slate slab, liable to be overlooked, in the chancel paving, bears the name of one Prouse, who was Mayor of Barnstaple in the time of the Spanish Armada (1588,
Elizabeth). The inscriptions on some of the monuments are very quaint. That on Richard Beaple's is here given. (He was a merchant who died in 1643, and was thrice Mayor of the borough).
" Weret not more wisely done if wth consent
Woe joined to batter down this monument
Lost when the sorrowing poor lift up their eyes
They drown the voyce o'th sermon with their cryes
Lot that bee others doome such as can give
With liberall spirit, but onoly whiles they live.
As for this Senator, his nobler minde
Within one age did scorne to bee confind
For which to future ages ho convayd
So rich a portion duly to bee payd
That thenceforth tears being baniaht, it might bring
To the orphans joy and make poor widows sing
Let those who'do have their nionumente to stand
Take fayr example from this bounteous hand."
"^IG 6
Cxxrti^bflt
(The seventh and eighth linos of the above should be particularly noted).
BARNSTAPLE PARISH CHURCH.
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In the south aisle of the chan- cel is a mural mouunient of special interest, erected by the Kevcl. INIartin Blake, to the memory of his son and four other children, who ilied when quite young. Mr. Blake held the living from 1628 to 1673, and suffered much during the Com- monwealth, having been sus- pended — or more technically speaking, sequestered — from the living, but not actually deprived of it, the benefice never having been vacant between the above dates. One of the panels on the monument depicts the pulpit empty and the congregation wait- ing for the vicar.
The fresco (fig. 6) on the north side of the blank wall forming the western termin- ation to the aroading of the north aisle of the nave, is interesting. It covers a space of 3 feet 11 inches in height, by 3 feet 4 inches in width, and although somewhat indistinct, two figures can be partly traced, one resembling a bishop, or other church dignitary, and the other the kneeling figure of a woman. This fresco cannot be very old, seeing that the wall on which it is found must have been an exterior wall (and
not plastered) previous to the addition of the north and south aisles of the nave and chancel, about 1670. There is a fine old oak door between the church and the staircase to the Parish Room. The side facing the church is moulded with a repeating mould (fig. 2) right across tTic full width of the door, studded with numerous large nails. The wrought iron "sanctuary ring," plate and thumb latch, arc of very pretty design (figs. 3 and Ji). The design of the plate appears to have been a favourite one, plates of the same pattern being found on doors in several other North Devon churches. The modern stone pulpit, the rercdos and font are cxt-ollent examples of the sculptor's art, very richly carved and of Tudor design. The l)rass eagle lectern — very handsome and massive — is in memory of Mr. John Edwards, who was
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NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
clioirmaater of the church for the long period of 50 years. He was the father of Dr. Henry J. Edwards, who has achieved such fame in the musical world, and who holds the position of organist and choirmaster of the church.
The chancel retains a Decorated piscina (see head piece) of dat« about 1318 (Edward II.), and of rather larger size than is usually found. The opening is trefoil- headed, measuring 2 feet 7 inches in height, by 1 foot 6 inches in width, and sur- mounted with a label moulding, stopped with carved heads of saints. The project- ing stone shelf is a modern addition. In the south aisle of the chancel, built into the south wall, is some Early Decorated work, said to be a piscina (fig. 7), with a trefoiled opening and a shallow sunk panel on each side, finished with a moulded label. One cannot help thinking that it is doubtful if this is a piscina at all. It looks more like a portion of some arcaded panelling, taken from the older or 14th century part of the church, and fixed in its present position when the aisles were built. The opening is only 4 inches deep, and there is no trace of a stone bowl — the ledge simply being plastered on the walling below. The label is finished abruptly at the returns, showing a clean cut — a joint no doubt originally occuring here, and the label continued on over the side panels.
The glory of this church is its broach spire. ^Mr. Lawrence Weaver, F.S.A., who recently read a paper on " The Earlier Lead Spires " before the Royal Institute of
British Architects, stated Barnstaple spire to be timber - framed leaded country." Its main effect the great height of the that of the tower on vertical luifer spire lights the unusual position of squinches which connect tower with the octagonal The spire is twisted over to the south, the noticeable in the bulge south spire light. It has
that he " considered the finest existing ancient broach spire in this seems to be produced by spire in proportion to which it stands. The are a fine feature, and the little lights over the the angles of the square spire, again add interest, near the top, and leans eifect of which is very under the sill of the been stated that this tilt is the result of a terrific thunder- storm which broke over the town in 1810. This may be, although it is curious that more damage was not done to the spire. From an unbiassed point of view, the opinion one would form would be that the tilt — which for the height of the spire is not very considerable — has been the result of many years play of the sun's heat on the south face, creating a pulling movement of the lead and timbers — especially if green timber was used. The leadwork bears the date " 1636," so presumably the spire was newly covered at that time. The sketch of the church is taken from the south-east, and shows how well the centrally placed steeple groups with the rest of the building.
Pic 7
Paroslbpig,
VICARS OF BARNSTAPLE. FROM 12S7.
12.57- 1276-
1327- 1347-
13.55- 1373- 1375- 1393- 1397-
-Waher, Treasurer of Exeter.
-Ralph Chafhaur (Sir). Patron, Sir John de
Audeley.
-Philip de Cruco (Sir). -Robert do Edawys Lacy. Patron, King
Edward III.
-John Hope. Patron, King Edward III. -Thomas Waco. -Roger dictus de Capiaco. -John Foyres or Forest. -William Kuight.
1403 — John Lomman. 1412— William Pilton. 1444— William Meolis. 1448— Thomas Cole. 1451 — John Harding. 1451 — John Stanbury. U«0— John Nichol. 1462 — John Holman. 14(32— Richard French. 1484— Hugh Lynke. 1484 — John Beaumont,
BARNSTAPLE PARISH CHURCH.
1488— John Cookys.
John Pilton. 1618— Robert Thorn. Putroii, King Honry VIII. 1526 — Thomas Aiulrows. 1528 — Thomas Wise. Patron, Sir Thomas Dunnis
Knight. 1539 — Thomas Martin. Patrons.Waltor Bowon Clork
and Ansria Chichustor. 1555 — Ambrose Borwicko. Patron, John Fawel, by
grant of Lord William Howard. 1662 — John Clarys (or Claris). Patron, Lord
William Howard 15H0 — Richard Baylie. Patron, Bartholomew Harris,
by grant of Charles Lord Kllingbam. 1693 — Trynder. Patron, Nicholas Gronvillo. 1628— Martin Blake.
1673 — John Boyso. Patron, John Sydenham. 1687 — George Browning. Patron, Bishop Lamplugh.
1703 — John Reed. Patrons, Daniel Bodingfield, John
Ward, and John Poloy. 1704 — Daniel Hyde. Patrons, John Ward, and John
Poley. 1710 — Samuel Thompson. Patron, Michael Hyde. 1734 — Thomas Steed. Patrons, Thomas Manaton and
Sampson Manaton. 1765— William Marshall. Executors, the Hon. J. S. W.
MacKenzie. 1809 — John Michael Wade. Patrons, the Hon. J. S.
W. MacKonzie (?) and Lady Bute. 1820 — Henry Luxmoro. Patron, J. A. S. Worthley. 1 8()1— Gilbert Innos Wallas. Patron, Lord Wliarncliffe 1877 — Albert Eden Seymour. Patron, Lord Wharncliffe 1885— John Walker Pulleyn. Patron, Lord Wharncliffe 1889— Thomas Newton, LL.D. Patron, Lord Wharncliffe 1907 — Richard Turner. Patron, the Bishop of Exeter
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|LFRAC0MBE, the popular seaside resort on tlic North Devon coast, and a place of singular beauty and variety of scenery, was known — probably as a port — in any case as far back as 1041 (Edward the Confessor), the manor being recorded as then held by one Robert. Tliere is good foundation, therefore, for believing that the church may contain traces of Norman and even Saxon work, and this belief can be substantiated on examining the structure. It is placed on an elevated site at tlic western end of the town, ancl is worthy of its surroundings ; the various parts of the building grouping together in a very picturesque way, and having as a background the Seven Hills, or Tors, and the blue waters of the Bristol Channel. There is evidence to show (which will be explained further onj that the original church was a Norman one.
The existing building is on plan nearly a complete rectangle, the interior measure- ments being 113 feet long and 62 feet wide. It consists of a nave and chancel, with north and south aisles to each, uortli and south porches, vestry and a north tower, con- taining a clock and eight bells. There is accommodation for 1,200 persons, and the registers date from 1567 (Elizabeth). The works of restoration have extended over the latter half of last century, and a new vestry has been built. The church as it now stands dates from the year 1321 (Edward II.). This is certain, for it is re- corded in the bishop's register that BLshop Stapcldon, in his visitation that year, decided that the then existing church was too small for the recpiirements of the day, and gave a peremptory order to enlarge it. This was done, the nave being lengthened to the west 24 feet, nave aisles and a new chancel built. Although it is stated that the old building was enlarged, yet no doubt it had to be taken down entirely, as the construction of the nave arcading Avould have made this necessary, but the nave was probably built on the old foundations. This 14th century arcading consists of four baya on bcttli sides of the nave, the piers being octagonal and tlic arches semi-octagonal, in section, both piers and arches being quite plain, except the neck mouldings to the piers. These mouldings are in the early Norman style, in the form of a S(juaro projecting tillct, with the Ixtttoin angle chamfered oil'. The stone used in the piers is chielly yellow oolitic limestone, from llamhill, Somerset, with occa.sional blocks of local blue liniesttme, of which the arches arc also composed. Both rows of the arcading have a consideral)le tilt to tlie .south — the result perhaps of pressure caused by the new type of roof put on in tlio ir)tli century, the tying powers being weakened.
The font (fig. 3) is probably late Norman, about IIGO (Henry II.), It is of the same stone as that in the nave piers, and was originally larger than now ; but having
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
become injured — the result of being moved about from time to time to various positions in the church— it was, in 1861, reduced in size and the design re-cut; and the basin, which was formerly square, was filled up with stone, forming a shallow round basin quite out of keeping with the style. The carving consists of a regular design of three circles on each side, enclosing a star-shaped pattern, slender stems
rising from the coving beneath the bowl and coming
On the coving below the circles are
ating with heads of corn.
up
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between the circles, terrain- leaves, of conventional plain design.
The jamb stones and part of the arch of a small round-headed window (possibly Norman), are built into the west wall of the south aisle. This window may have been in the Norman church, and placed here as a west light to the south aisle of the 14th century or Decorated church, erected by Bishop Stapeldon. (The aisles of that church would have been much narrower and less in height than the present aisles).
The font, and the little window built into the west wall, and also the neck mouldings of the piers — which are probably copies of mouldings found in the church taken down by Bishop Stapeldon — are altogether strong evidence to prove that the first stone-built church on the site was one erected in the Norman period. The church which followed it — built by the bishop's orders — consisted of a nave and narrow aisles (all under one roof), and a chancel. The nave and chancel remain in the existing church, and of the same extent, but the chancel walls have been opened out.
Part of the line of the 14th century roof was visible in the gable walling at the west end of the nave up to about 1865. Similar lines of Decorated roofs are still to be seen in the west walls of Barnstaple and Tawstock churches, not having been obliterated when refacing the walls.
In the following century — the 15th century or Perpendicular period — very many of the Devon- shire churches were enlarged or re-built. Judg- ing from the mouldings and the roofing, the work then done to Ilfracombe church included the widening and raising the aisles, and extending them eastwards the full length of the church ; opening out of the north and south walls of the
chapels) ; the con-
raising the nave and chancel walls
chancel (one or both of the aisles possibly being used as Chantry
struction of the north porch ; and the putting on of new roofs throughout the building.
The chancel retains two piers, and two and a half of the arches of this Perpendicular
work, and also a small supporting arch abutting on the south wall of the tower.
There is not much of the 15th century walling left. The parts still remaining are
the north wall of the nave north aisle, and the whole of the north porch. The nave
wall, west of the porch, has been repaired and rcfaccd with some of the old facing
stone, but the walls of the porch, and the remainder aisle wall at the east of it.
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NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
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•\l»olc
: IS'J'Ctntun/ Pcxjr ! : 3'^- Ennanca i
appear to be the original work untouched. The facing stone is a bright red sandstone, such as is found in the neighbourhood of Combe Martin. The tower has been repaired and refaced in parts, and the remaining walls of the church have been rebuilt or restored during the latter half of the last century, and the south porch was probably built during that period. A porch formerly stood at the west end of the nave, and traces can bo plainly seen where the doorway was walled up. A new vestry was built in 1894, and the handsome oak lych gate was also erected in that year, as a memorial to the Revd. J. M. Chanter, vicar of Ilfracombe from 1836 to 1887.
The tower is the oldest and most remark- able part of the church. It is 55 feet 6 inches in height from the ground to the top of the battlements, the pinnacles rising another 5 feet. As the sketch (fig. 6) shows, it
starts with a sloping base, 5 feet high, and then rises perpendicularly another 16 feet. At the top of this is a set-back of 9 inches, above which the walls rise with sloping sides until reaching the battlements. The tower contains 8 bells and a clock.
The oldest bells are the tenor and nmnber five, which date from IT'lS (George II.). On the tenor is the inscription : —
" I to the church the living call, And to the grave do summons all."
There is evidence, as follows, to prove that the tower originally stood apart from any other building, and that it was not a church tower. 1st. If it was built by Bishop Stapeldon in 1321, it would have been placed further in than it now stands. Its south wall would have been in line with the nave arcading, and its ground storey forming a transept directly off from the nave, which is the customary plan of 14th century North Devon churches having similarly placed towers. 2nd. The sloping base shows inside the church, and of sufficient extent to prove that it was intact on each side when the 14th century rebuilding took place. 3rd. The set-back before referred to is not to be seen on the south side owing to the fact that this side was thinned down, when the large ground storey or transept arch was built, to the extent of the projection of the set-back. This was probably done to give increased room for the aisle at this part. Ath. The walls of the lowest stage are very massive, being 4 feet 6 inches in thickaess, and the base 6 feet in the thickest part. This indicates that the tower was built for the purposes of a fort, refuge and jierhaps also a beacon light. There is no stone staircase winding up in any of the walls, and this rather strengthens the idea of the tower having been a fort — for such a staircase would have been a source of danger in case of attack. Access to the original upper parts may have been by ladders made to pull up out of reach.
The following opinions are advanced as to the history of this somewhat mysterious tower, after a very close study of the structure. It was probably built in the 8axon period, sometime between A.D. 900-1,000, the lower or upright portion below the set-back being what is left of the Saxon work. The upper two-thirds above the set- back, containing the ringers' and belfrey stages, is of Early Decorated character, resembling other 14th century towers found in North Devon — for example, Morte Hoe, with its "battering" or sloping unbuttressed walls. Just below the clock on
TLFRACOMBF, TARISII CHURCH.
11
the east side are two narrow pointed lights, built up. When the cliurch was being built in 1321, a transept (perhaps for use as a chantry chapel) was formed of the ground storey of the tower by removing sufficient of the south wall to construct the large existing arch, which is undoubtedly a 14th century arch— an equilateral pointed arch, quite plain, and very similar to the 14th century arches found in Pilton, Brauntou and Westdown churches. The pointed windows found in the north and east walls of this ground storey would also have been formed at the same time. The latter window is now blocked up.
The tower, above the present ground storey, was then apparently taken down and rebuilt as a church tower, from the existing set-back up to the bottom of the parapet ; the old stones being re-used, the walls built battering and the tower probably finished with a low timber spire, covered with lead or with oak shingling. The existing battlemented parapet and the pinnacles are of Late 15th century work, and may have been built when the church was extended in that century ; and the large two-light belfry openings are restorations of possible Tudor work. The facings of the tower have been considerably repaired from time to time, so that any Saxon " long and short work " at the quoins of the ground storey, would long ago have been obliterated. On each side of the transept or ground storey arch, part of the walling has been cut back, and at the west corner has been splayed off as well. This may have been done m the 15th century, when the aisles were extended and widened, so that worshippers seated near the north wall of the nave aisle should obtain a better view of the altar, and the thinning away of the east corner may have been done to give increased room in the aisle.
All the roofs, with the exception of the chancel, are the original Perpendicular ones, and are good specimens, especially that in the nave. They are all "wagon" roofs, of oak, with plastered panels divided by moulded ribs with bosses at the intersections. The bosses of the nave roof are splendidly carved in conventional floral and leaf designs, with the exception of one row — the carving of which contains grotes(|ue faces, and another row carved with double-headed eagles. The bosses of the roofs of the entire south aisle and also the north aisle of chancel are also carved, but not so richly as those in the nave. The 15th century bosses of the nave north aisle roof arc missing, and their places have been tilled in with plain moulded blocks. The north porch lias a very iutei-estiug Perpendicular open-timbered oak wagon roof with carved bosses, some of them containing queer little grotesque heads, and on the
wall plates are carved paterae. Eighteen panels of the nave roof, above where the old rood screen stood, contained carved ribs with main and diagonal cresting. The carving was restored in 1899, and north and south dormer windows with carved linings inserted to light the roof at this part. The oak panelling of the chancel roof is modern, ornamented with carved bosses and a beautiful carved cresting surmounting the wall plates, all the carving of this roof being the work, in 1905, of two ladies of the town.
The stone corbels in the nave are unique. They are \'ery fine both in design and work- maiisiiip, and should make this church famous. There are 28 of them — 14 each side of tlie nave — and they are placed about 18 inches below the wall plates of the roof. One on the north side has been nearly destroyoil — perhaps by a falling timber when the fifteenth century
■.Two of Hh ia»r.
12
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
roof was put on — and another is rather damaged ; otherwise they are, as far as one can see, perfect. They are grotesquely carved animals, except one, a bird, on the north side. Sketches of two are herewith given. Most probably they date from the Decorated period of Bishop Stapeldon's church enlargement (the time of much redundancy in ornament), and their purpose must have been to give a support to the roof trusses of the Decorated roof, preceding the present one. Their size, and also the area of the moulded pads on the top of each, precludes the idea that they were intended to support the present unwinged figiu-es of angels, with which they are quite out of scale. These angels are distinctly of later date than the corbels, being Perpendicular, coarsely carved and with characterislic upright drapery.
When the 15th century wagon roof was built (with trusses not requiring the support of the corbels) the carved Avood angels were placed on the corbels and lightly attached to the ribs of the roof. The Early Perpendicular roof of Northam parish church has carved angels with outstretched wings almost identical mth these (as they would have been in their originally complete state), but the corbels they rest on are of wood, plainly moulded, and only about half the size of the stone cor- bels in this church. The colour contrasts in the interior of the church give it a beautiful appear- ance. The white plastered panels of the nave and aisle roofs, the carved oak panels of the chan- cel roof, the blue, grey and buff stone of the nave and chancel arcading, and the stained glass windows, combine well together. The best of the windows is the one in the
west wall of the south aisle of the nave. It is the gift of Miss Gilbert in memory of Miss Margaret Down, of Ilfracombe, the design being in groups of beautiful figure work done in soft colours. Another window, almost equally good, is the memorial one to Mr. Henry Sanderson, of Ilfracombe, who died in 1893. It is an exquisite piece of work ; the minute detail showing in the drapery of the figures and the foliage of the background is very noticeable, the glass being in subdued tints of green, brown and silver. Amongst other mural monuments is one to Captain Richard Bowen, being a plain white marble inscription slab, surmounted by a splendidly carved group of guns and other war weapons, with a mast and sail, in white marble. This officer was of H.M.S. Terpischore, and fell at Tencriffe in 1797 when spiking the guns, under order, so as to make them useless to the enemy. All who took part in this work lost their lives. In the south-west entrance there is a fine old oak Perpendicular door (fig. 4) in a good state of preservation, and with its original fittings all complete. The lock is very long, measuring two feet three inches, and the " sanctuary " ring and plate are unusually large and massive (fig. 5). A very
JcncPon of X'f'^t^ iS"'Ce><iWj
Pl»Cina inCTw*\£U. I
H6.r
l^tng- on 3 w 500^
ILFRACOMBE PARISH CHURCH. 13
curious privilege prevailed in old times with which these rings were connected. Any person who might have broken the laws of tlic land could, by running to the nearest church and remaining there, after touching the " sanctuary ring," escape punish- ment. In 1624, in the reign of James I., this privilege was done away with.
The pulpit — a sketch of which is here given — is of oak ; the portion between the top of the pedestal and the cornice being of Jacobean (Early 17th century) work. The cornice and pedestal are modern, in the same style as the old portion.
The chancel retains one of the most elegant piscinas in North Devon (fig. 2). It is of the Perpendicular period, about M50 (Henry VI.), and an engraving of it appears in Parker's " Glossary of Architecture " — which is a proof of its merit. The height is 1 foot 11 inches and the width 1 foot 2 inches.
The church formerly possessed a rood screen (no doubt of 15th or Early 16th century date) for, previous to 1864, the rood loft staircase was in existence in the south wall ; but when the wall was rebuilt in that year the staircase was unfortu- nately destroyed. It is also recorded that fragments of the screen were discovered within the church when it was partially restored in 1859.
The two carved stone angel figures (sec head and tail-piece) in the north porch are very valuable relics of 15th century work, in a good state of preservation-with the exception of the lower part of the wings. They originally stood, one on each side of the nave, at the top of the first piers west of the pulpit ; and it is quite possible that all the former 15th century piers of the chancel had similar angel figures resting at the top of the caps.
Fig. 1 shows the clever way in which the 15th century nave aisles are brought down on to the 14th century piers.
The organ is a particularly fine toned three manual instrument, and well placed in an open position in the north aisle at the back of the choir stalls. In the early part of the last century the old organ stood in a gallery at the west end of the nave and was flanked by choir galleries. In 1855 it was enlarged and placed on the floor at the west end, and about 1805 was removed to the ground storey of the tower. In 1888 it was again moved, and placed where it now stands. One or two items from tlie church accounts relating to the " orchestra " of old times will be of interest. It is evident that the " beas vile " did not play " second fiddle," judging from the promi- nence given to it in the accounts.
Four extracts are here given : — £ s. n.
1810. — For teaching of Twelve Young Voices to assist the
former Choir, From Easter, 1809, to Easter, 1810 ... 4 4 0
And to the Clioir 110
Paid for one String for the Bass Veil 1 Q
1818.— Paid for the Singers and Strings to the Bass Viol ... 3 10 3
1823.— Paid for part of Beas Vile 3 9 6
1824. — Paid Mr. Harris for Concert flute with 4 silver keys ... 2 0 0
Violin Strings, etc. ... ... ... ■•• ••• .3 2
Tlic church presents a very picturesque appearance viewed from the south-west, and the long unbroken roof line of the south aisle is very effective.
LIST OF INCUMBENTS. RECTORS.
126.3.— Oliver do Trncoy. 1:^62.— William Polgrim. 1474.— Robert Spycor.
1272. — Henry do Moiitofort. TliDiim.s nurton. 1492.— Riclmrd Norton.
1276.— Salomon do Roffa. 1416.— Hugh Horlo. 1524.— George Groy.
1333.— John do Cliiiinbernoun. John Morton. 1530.— Tliomas Borwodo.
Koginald do Chambornouu. 1 15;).— Juhn Codic!. 1644.— Goorgo Carew.
1335. — John do Lostor. 1470. — William Chauutro.
1349 —William Best. 1473.— John Brydo.
14
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
|
VICARS. |
||
|
1555.— Geoflfrey Clepit. |
1689. — William Read. |
|
|
1583. — William Slatyer. |
1691.— John Elmeston. |
|
|
1584. — John Morrice. |
1724.— Nathaniel Collier |
|
|
1621.— William Buckland. |
1728.— Thomas Stinton. |
|
|
1621. — John Morrice, Junior. |
1763.— John Bailey. |
|
|
1633.— Robert Liverland. |
1770.— John Vye. |
|
|
1636. — John Reade. |
1771. — Emmanuel May. |
|
|
Leonard Prince. |
1804.— Robert Dickenson. |
|
|
1663.— Alexander Atkey. |
1836.— John Mill Chanter. |
|
|
1684. — Alan Lester. |
1887. — Richard Martin. |
|
|
1686.— Thomas Rowe. |
1906.— Albert Eden Seymour |
i
Ilhbce»li(
15
^aris^ g^urc^ of §f. Margaret
HIS fine
building
IS
situated on elevated ground in the centre of the village, overlooking Bideford Bay and Westward Ho ! Pebble Ridge — a natural sea wall of grey boulders, slate and sandstone, extending about 2 miles in a straight line, and about 50 feet wide and 20 feet high. Saxon-Danish traditions linger around the neighbourhood, for it was at Kcnwith Castle near by (where are the remains of ancient fortifications) that the fight began between the Danes under Hubba, and the Saxons under Alfred, in a.d. 878. The Danes were driven by the men of Devon as far as •' Bloody Corner " on the outskirts of Northam. Here, cut off from their ships, they made their last stand, and a duel (so tradition says) was fought between two of the chieftains, some old stones, railed off, now marking the spot. Two miles down the Torridge is the Hubbastone, which the river boatmen will tell you marks the grave of Hubba, killed in that fierce battle, with 840 of his men, and their standard called " The Raven " captured.
The church consists of a nave and chancel, with a north aisle to each ; a south transept, south porch, vestry, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, con- taining a clock and six bells. It is in the Perpendicular style, the existing old work being also in that style, witli traces of Norman. It was completely restored between 1844 and 1865, at the close of which the chancel was built.
There arc 600 sittings, and the registers date from 1538 (Henry VIII. j.
The north aisle of the nave is of later date than the nave itself, having been built in 1593 (Elizabeth), as can be seen by the quaint inscription carved on the cap of the second pier west of the chancel, reading " This Yele was made Anno 1593." (Figs. 2 and 5.)
The nave and transept roofs are of the Early Perpendicular period, and are exceptionally fine specimens of that style, open-timbered, the timbering being of oak and chestnut. Tliey are of the usual wagon or cradle form, and the spaces between the rafters are plastered.
At the intersection of the ribs are carved bosses, of floral and emblematical designs, coloured and gilded, contrasting well with the black timbering. Below the wall plates of the nave is a continuous row of quatrefoils, and at the foot of the trusses are carved angel figures witli outstretched wings, resting on i)lain moulded wood cor- bels. The wall plates of the transei)t are richly carved with tlie conventional Per- pendicular vine leaf and grajtcs. (Fig. 3.) The roof of tlie 16tli century north aisle of nave is similar to that of the nave, except that the angel figures are more coarsely carved and have folded wings, do not rest on corbels, but arc attached to the trusses.
^W^;
•-zO-
■sSJ
NORTH AM PARISH CHURCH
17
rut. 5
m^^^
jUrhmm
The modern chancel has a finely carved hammer-beam roof. The nave arcading consists of five bays, and contains some Norman stonework, ro-used.
The second pier from the west has a Norman " cushion " capital of granite (fig. 1), the other caps being of stone, either plain octagonal blocks, about eighteen inches in depth, with the bottom edges splayed, or shallow neck moulds of Norman section.
The piers are octagonal and the arches plain chamfered, with a sub-arch to each. The existence of the Norman caps points to the fact that the original church may have been of that period, and that the nave of the present church still retained some of the Norman stonework when the north aisle was opened out.
The font (fig. 4) is octagonal, the basin being probably of Early Perpendicular date, evidently roughly used at one time, as it has been broken right across and joined together with metal cramps. It rests on a modern stem, also oc- tagonal, \vith a moulded cap and base.
The pulpit is a very handsome modern one, in stone, in the Decorated style, very tlelicately carved and with Devon marble shafts. It was the gift of the lateMr. Thrupp, of North am, to whom the east window was erected. The organ forme a very ornamen- tal and striking - ;Si5SS»-:::.;-'-iStr«r •(iw feature in the ' show*? &En4^A'5it
church.
placed
the east wall of the chancel aisle, occupying a long and narrow space, and has a
very fine case in the Decorated style, richly carved, and with a large amount of
elaborate tracery-covered panelling. The window in the east wall forms a very
pretty central background to the organ. The seating is modern, with traccried
panels at the ends, and there are several stained memorial wItuIows.
The tower is a very fine structure indeed, noticeable for its light and elegant appearance, which is accentuated by the buttresses stopping half way up. The staircase projects as a semi-octagon on the south side, the effect being very pleasing. The height is 97 feet to the top of the battlements, and the pinnacles rise another
in the It is
against
1 r-
Of^Cam to Mvl P^
18
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
10 feet. It is interesting to learn that for some time previous to 1846 the tower was plastered, and had a coating of whitewash to make it conspicuous as a landmark or guide for sailors far out at sea. This whitewashed plaster was removed when the vicar's predecessor, the late Rev. J. H. Gossett, became vicar in 1844. He, within two years of this date, began the work of restoration of the church, and it is believed that nearly, if not quite the first thing taken in hand, was the above work of stripping the plaster from the tower, and so bringing out the beauty of its detail.
The whole church is faced with local stone of a warm red tint, and is in a splendid state of preservation.
IVcJ
19
2 • O'
IL,^ ,
Waris^ §^xxvc^ of §f. ^ar^.
IDEFORD Parish Church is a modern building, except the tower. It was built on the site of a former church, in 1865, and is seated for about 1,280 persons, being one of the finest and probably the largest parish church m North-west Devon. It has been included in this series because it contains ancient features of considerable interest and has associa- tions with past heroes. The font (fig. 2) shows that a Norman church originally stood on or near the site, and that this church gave place (judging from the tower) to a Late 13th century building, taken down when the present church was erected. In the second church many of Queen Elizabeth's sea-chiefs must have worshipped. Bideford has memories of redoubtable deeds never to be forgotten, for did not Sir Richard Grenville hail from here — the hero of what is surely the most superb event in English History " the fight of the one and the fifty-three," when, otf Flores in the Azores (August 1591), he sustained an attack of the Spanish fleet of 53 sail and 10,000 men, against his own vessel the little " Revenge" alone, with a crew of only 103 men ; repulsed the Spaniards 15 times, destroyed four of their vessels, killing upwards of 1,000 men, and only yielded when his powder was exhausted. He died
of his wounds within two days afterwards, on board the Spanish Admiral's vessel. How well Tennyson's magnificent ballad describes it —
It-
■f r<<
"HAW
" And the sun went down, and the stars
camo out far over the summer sea, But never a moment ceased tlio fight of
the one and the fifty-three. Ship after .ship, tlie whole night long,
their liigh-built galleonH camo, Ship after ship, the whole night long,
with her battle-thunder and flaino ; Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew
back with her dead and her shame. For some wore sunk and many wore ehatter'd,
and so could fight us no more — God of battles, was ever a battle like this
in the world before ? "
Aye, and there are men of the same breed still left down Devon way over ready for tough work should they be wanted — for " Shire of the Sea-Kings " is no empty title.
20
XORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
nai
Fig. 1 shows the imposing monument to Sir Thomas Grayn- fylde (Grenville) — an ancestor of Sir Richard Grenville — who died in 1513 (Henry VIII.). It is a fine example of Tudor Gothic work, in stone, and consisting of a screen of four bays combined with an arched tomb, on which lies a recumbent effigy clad in
1^^*11 l(¥¥T\lllll((¥^'^OT¥^^hi plate armour. On the tomb
^%^^ I ^ II 1 11 are shields of arms of Grenville.
^ ^ 11 B Ullllll 1 EilBIl I rpjjg fQjjt^ jg g^jj ancient Norman
one, of granite, and is one of the best specimens of Early Norman work in the country — date about 1080 (William I). The bowl is square and rests on a circular stem, and the carving is done in cable moulding and scalloped work, and with three carved panels on the east face of the bowl. (fig. 3.) The way that the cable mould rises on the north and south sides is very peculiar. A feature that imme- diately attracts the eye, omng largely to its foreign appearance, is the screen at the back of the font beneath the tower arch. The panels are made up of old Flemish pew ends, most elaborately carved with floral work and figures of soldiers. We may assume that these panels were portions of Flemish furniture obtained by Bideford sailors and used in the seating of the former church.
The tower is ancient — probably Late 13th century — of date about 1260 (Edward I.). It was restored in 1865 and is 72 feet high, of two stages, with walls slightly battering and with buttresses to the lower stage, a battlemented parapet and two-light belfry openings, and contains a clock and 8 bells.
It has a fine Early pointed ground-storey arch built with the local blue stone, form- ing, with the stained window at the back, a very charming feature.
The former church was taken down (except the toAver) because it was in
bad repair, had altered, and was not large enough.
been continually inconvenient and
Fia.2
LIST OF RECTORS.
1261. — Hoiiry ile Brattoue. 1268. — Roger tie Leycestre. 1268. — William Dunnynge. 1318.— Henry Toyte. 1324.— Walter Piodhonime. 1351. — Nicholas de Braybroke. 1381.— Robert Braybroke. 1382. — Roger Boaumout. 1421.— John Walhoppe. 1458.— Lewis Pollard.
TTl*T%nr
BIDEFORD PARISH CHURCH.
21
1494. —John Nicholle. 1500.— Robert CorWBlle. 1504.— John Graynfyld. 1509. — Richard Symou. 1511. — John Susan. 1514.— Richard Gilbert. 1624. — John Andrew. 1547. — Richard Browne. 1547. — Richard Arscot. 1671. — William James. 1591.— William Easte. 1625.— Philip Isacko. 1643.— Arthur Gifford. 1669.— Nathaniel Eaton.
1674.— Michael Ogilby.
1700.— Christopher Bedford.
1723.— John Harbort.
1727. — George Nichols.
1744.— John Whitfield.
1783.— William Smith.
1804.— Richard Keats.
1812.— William Walter.
1844.— Richard Hugh Keats Buck.
1853. — Francis Ley Bazeley.
1878. — Roger Granville (descendant of Sir Richard
Greuville). 1696.- Thomas Newton Leeke.
IP
I
l.3.r|itt» t.....Lt.... Vim- ij.1 ^ . 03 ••
83
IBraunfon. ^aris^ g^urc^ of §t '^vax\noc9i.
HE traditional St. Brannock did well when he founded the church and village here, for Brauntou is one of the most beautifully situated of the Barnstaple Bay villages, with far-reaching land and marine scenery. From one of its hills — known as West Hill — Bideford Bridge can be seen on a clear day, away to the south — although 7 miles distant as the crow flies. The village is set back partly on the slopes of low hills, and partly on the level land at their base, 2 miles from the sea, where are the dangerous Saunton Sands, with the melancholy desert of sand-hills known as " Braunton Burrows " in the rear, keeping back the waters of Barnstaple Bay (a sj^ot full of peril at times for crippled vessels) from the rich pastoral land which stretches from the Burrows up to Braunton.
The church is more than usually interesting, is of uncommon plan, and contains some fine wood carving of various dates. The body-part of the structure consists of a wide nave without aisles. In addition, there is a chancel with south aisle ; a south steeple with a transept formed by the ground storey of the tower portion ; a north transept with gallery ; south and west porches and vestries. The nave is no less than 31 feet wide, and the interior length of the church is 108 feet 6 inches. There are about 450 sittings, and the registers — in a tine state of preservation — date from the year 1538.
The chancel and transejjt arches, the font, steeple and the oldest of the windows, show the church to have been erected in the Early Decorated period, about 1310 (Edward II.), the building then consisting of the present nave, chancel, north transept and steeple. The chancel arch is formed with a main and sub-arch, both being double-chamfered. (This arch closely resembles the north transept Decorated arch in the interesting church of Westdown.) The north wall of the chancel is doubtless the original wall, and contains three rather wide lancet wimlows, the reveals retaining the original dressed freestone. The east window also has the original Early Perpendicular jamb-stones and label-mould, with very vigourously carved stops to the latter, which may represent one of the Lancastrian kings — possibly Henry IV. or Henry V. and wife.
Placing the erection of the church at about A.D. 1310, that date would bring it nearly contemporary with the erection of ]3arnstaple parish cliurch in A.D. 131G, the plan of which at tliat ihite resembled Braunton church, consi.sting of a nave and chancel, and with a tower and spire of the same description. The broach spire of both churches points to the pi'obability of the close relation in date of tlicir erection. The low altitude of the chancel arch as compared with the height of the nave is
24
NOETH DEVON CHURCHES.
ver}' noticeable, and shows that the walls were very probably raised when the present roof of the nave was put on.
The basin of the font (fig. 7) is exception- ally interesting. It is square, and constructed of a very hard blue limestone, with shallow sunk designs on each side representing Early Decorated windows, with natural leaf design in the spandrels, and an indication of the ball-flower ornament in the lower part of the quatre-foil on the east side.
At each corner are trefoil-headed niches, with carved heads of saints in each. The stem and small pillars are modern. 14th century fonts are rare in North Devon, and this one therefore is of great value.
Some of the buttresses of the church are remarkable for their enormous size, but it is most probable that they Averc not built at the same time as the church, but were provided afterwards to support weaker portions of the building. This may clearly be seen in those of the tower, especially the one on the south side. A certain amount of the walling of the nave and tower has been rebuilt ; and where the modern west window has been inserted, the wall under it has a " set-off" or ledge about six inches wide, showing that when the window was built the walling around and about it was not made so thick as the old wall. The chancel aisle, with arcading of two bays, is of Tudor (Henry VIII.) The arches of the arcading are not pointed, beiUj, form
F\&.1 period, perhaps
about 1530 of segmental but no doubt they would have been four-centred pointed arches if there had been sufficient room between the top of the arches and the wall plates for the extra height required.
The piers have peculiar debased capitals (fig. -i), with the bell imperfectly defined and a tier of four angular fillets acting as the abaci to the arches, and the south door to the aisle has an exterior four-centred pointed arch (restored) of Tudor design, with carved roses as stops to the label mould. A straight joint shows where the east wall of the aisle meets the older wall of the chancel ; and the small portion of its old return wall, at the east end of the aisle arcading, is thicker than the moulded piers, and a slope can be seen at the top where the eaves of the chancel roof finished.
Before the chancel aisle and its arch communicating with the nave were built, the opening in the wall over the arch was of course a window corresponding with the one on the north side of the chancel main arch.
The south transept, formed by the ground storey of the tower, has a piscina in its east wall ; so that this transept was probably a chantry chapel at one time. The piscina is in a decayed condition, of a plain pointed design, and possibly of 14th century date. In the east wall of this transept is a peculiar little slanting window, and a similar one in the west wall. They are about 8 feet from tlie floor and run diagonally through the thickness of the walls ; the openings being 1 foot 6 inches inside and narrowing to 6 inches outside. The one in the east wall crosses in a N.E. direction and the other S.W.
BRAUNTON PARISH CHURCH.
25
The north transept arch is an equilateral pointed arch (of the same description as that to the south transept), quite plain, and with the outer corners of the jambs chamfered oif for a few feet aboAC the floor. In the north wall of the transept is a plain arched opening, beneath which very probably stood an altar tomb. (Westdown church has a similar recess in its north transept, but more ornamental, and containing an oaken effigy.)
The vestry, which opens out from the north \vall of the chancel, is probably of Perpendicular date. It remains very much as originally erected (and with the open-timbered roof showing), except that it now consists of two floors — a vestry, with loft o\er. The doorway communicating with the chancel is cut out of the walling beneath the bottom splay of the middle lancet window, headroom being obtained by carrying up the pointed arch of the doorway in front and clear of the window splay. The aljove window looks into the loft, and is an additional proof that the vestry wing is of later date than the north wall of the chancel.
The north and south windows of the nave, although filled in with Perpendicular tracery, are possibly Early Decorated (14th century) window openings, as they are unusually narrow for 15th century nave windows. The works of restoration to the church have been the reparation of the timbering of the nave roof about 1850, and new coverings to the same roof in 1887. Also in the latter year the bells were rehung and two new ones provided. The south transept was restored a few years ago, and this year (1 908) the large west window has received now tracery— a copy of the old.
The ancient broach spire (one of the few which Devonshire possesses) is very strongly framed, and boarded in oak, covered with lead. Unlike most timber spires — par- ticularly when lead-covered — the sun has not twisted it, thanks no doubt to its well- seasoned oak, and remains (as far as the unaided eye can see) quite upright from all points of view. The lead rolls are very cleverly brought down from the diagonal to the horizontal, starting from the spire lights and continuing down to the eaves. Portions of the lead work have been renewed within recent years, perhaps when the nave roof was reslated. The tower is quite plain, consist- ing of the ground storey and the ringers' stage, with belfry over, containing 8 bells. The clock shows on the east side. The walling has been considerably rebuilt or repaired, and large and heavy-looking central buttresses have been added to strengthen the walls. The original buttresses are possibly those in pairs at the angles. The approximate combined height of the tower and spire is 100 feet from the ground to the top of the weather-cock. The follow- ing are inscriptions Ibund on three of the bells, taken oft" by the author : —
1. "God preserve Queen Anne and tlie church. E. Evans, fecit. 1713."
2. Let my sound move thee to God's Glory. Antho. Gregory, vicar, 1713."
26
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
3. On the tenor. "Glory be to God on high. Robert Chichester, Esqr., caused me and the second to be recast by John Taylor, Ox- ford. The Revd. J. W.R.Landon, vicar. W. Ferryman, W. Dyer, chm'ch war- dens, 1830." The roofs are wagon- shaped throughout the church, open- timbered in the nave, close-boarded and panelled in the chancel aisle. They all have carved bosses ; those in the nave and chancel being gilded, and in the aisle left plain. The nave roof is a fine example of a Perpendicidar roof
of wide span. It measm-es 34 feet from wall to wall, introduced many ciu'ious bits in their carved work
R^uTitbn
The old builders, who often , indulged themselves when constructing this roof by carving on one of the bosses a representation of a sow and litter of pigs (fig. 3). This boss is found about half-way up the roof, nearly in line with the north door, and alludes to the well-known tradition of St. Brannock (who is said to have planted the Cross in this part of Devon about A.D. 581) being instructed in a dream to erect a church on the spot where he should first meet with a sow and litter of pigs. There is a boss carved with the same device to be found on the roof of the porch of Newton St. Cyres church, near Exeter, and also on the roof of Sampford Courtenay church, near Okehampton. The Rev. J. A. Welsh Collins, the vicar of the former church, has informed the author that the tradition is that when it was contemplated to build the church, there were two sc^uires resident iu the parish, and that they diftered as to the site of the church, it being eventually agreed upon that a sow, about to give birth to a litter, should be turned out, and that wherever the young porkers were born, there the church should be built. Putting tradition aside, the vicar thinks that the boss was carved in this way as a " type of fertility." The Rev. William F. Surtees, the vicar of the latter church, agrees, but gives alternative explanations as follow : — " a. The boss represents a rude symbol of fecundity, possibly leading to the thought of life — eternal life. h. The boss represents ' Mother Church.' " Mr. Collins thinks he has noticed the boss in more than one Cornish church.
The grand feature of Braunton church is its fine old carved bench ends, perhaps not equalled anywhere in Devon. There are 84 of them, and, in addition, four bench fronts. Some show Late Perpendicular, and others Tudor work, in great variety of designs ; many having initial letters of their car\-crs or donors carved on shields, and, amongst others, four bear emblems of the Crucifixion, and two others have coats of
BRAUNTON PARISH CHURCH.
a?
arms. Figures 5 and 6 show two of the most elaborate — the former, found near the north transept, clearly showing that sport was closely associated with the chui'ch in tlio.sc days ; and tlic latter, found in tlic middle aisle near the chancel, shows St. Brannock and his traditional cow. Here again we have a curious tradition relating to this bench, and of which there are more than one version ; but Mr. Wainwright, curator of the Barnstaple Athen;euni, has kindly given the following information with regard to it. He says : " The oldest 'cow' story is to the effect that the cow belonged to St. Brannock, and that it was chopped in pieces, and when boiling in the cauldron came out whole and sound at his call ! " The usual desecration of cliurch property, which occurred in the 16tli and 17th centuries, may be seen here ; for where carved images of saints occur in the bench ends, the faces are in many cases cut off, and also the entire carving has been completely hacked away from one of the ends near the choir vestry door. The benches are adze-hewn ; and, as illustrating the lavish use of the wood, it may be stated that the seats are from two to three inches thick, the book-boards from two to three-and-a-half inches, and the bench ends as much as three to four inches thick, and all in a fine state of preservation, except one bench near the west entrance. The top rails are heavily moulded, cut out of the solid, and finished with a bold bead at the top, giving a very rich effect. The tail-piece shows what is known as the " Judas " bench end, depicting a hand holding a bag of money. It is found in the very last row of benches, close by the door- way, at the west end of the church — a significant fact, surely. The benches are probably of chestnut, as the " clash " or medullary rays of oak are absent ; and the wood is coarser and more brittle-looking than oak.
Some excellent carved oak Jacobean work is to be seen, more particularly in the gallery front of the north transept (figs. 1 and 2) and the pulpit. The former is dated 1619 (James I.}, is 4: feet 2 inches in height, and divided into six panels, of two alternate designs, tlie framing between the panels being fiuted and reeded, and in the centre of eacli panel is a carved lion's head.
The pulpit is similar to the Jacobean one in llfracombe church, but is of bolder and richer detail.
Behind the altar is some old oak panelling, dated 1653 (Commonwealth period), in a mixed Jacobean and Classic style, which at one time formed the sounding-board over tlic pulpit. About tidrty years ago the pulpit stood in a raised position against the south wall ; and on a line with it were the reading-pew and clcrk'sdesk, without any division, forming what is known as a " three-decker." At that time a gallery, with a plain panelled front, stretched across the full width of the nave, at its eastern end, entered by a door from the belfry stairs. The doorway is now blocked up. The vicar possesses an interesting photograph, taken before the " three-decker" and gallery were removed. The narrow windows on each side of the chancel arch wore
F»G.7.
28
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
at that time cased on the inner side with thin masonry, plastered. "When the gallery was taken down, the masonry lining was removed, exposing the windows as they now stand ; and on the wide inner splayed reveals of the left-hand, or north window, a fine fresco was discovered, depicting the standing figm*e of a tall man in chains. Care was not taken, however, to preserve the fresco, and nothing now remains of it except a slight trace of colour on the plaster.
No doubt Braunton church, in common with others, had its rood-screen and loft ; and probably the doorway (mentioned above) in the belfry staircase led into the rood loft. The existing chancel screen is Perpendicular, with traceried bays and of very plain design. In the wiiter's opinion it is either notlung but the back of what was
2
^
Dov£-roilin^
iIEREEEV2Flt.Fi02En j
a
^
<^
«s>.
/^JUU*-5U/^JC5UU^>./^-AJ^
Fig. 8
Braun^
once a double screen (the side now facing west then being reversed), or it was brought from another church after the removal of the rood-screen.
The chest (fig. 8), which is placed in the chancel aisle, is of exceptional interest. It is 6 feet in length, 2 feet in width, and 2 feet 8 inches in height, and is ornamented on the front with lightly incised figures, in black lines, of a man and woman (figs. 9), against which are the initials "E.G." and " D.C. " respectively (presumably man and wife). The front edge of the lid and the top edge of the front of the chest are also ornamented with incised work ; the former with little rectangular patterns of a floral design, and the latter a row of doves. The ^^Toug■ht iron handle and lock plate are of extreme beauty (fig. 10). The handle revolves in spindles at the top ends, and is used for lifting up the lid ; and the initials " E.G. "
BRAUNTON PARISH CHURCH. 29
are engraved on the upper part — doubtless the initials of the man represented on the front of the chest, as they are the same. An incised inscription in black lines runs around the top and sides of the front. There is a tradition in the village that the chest is an Armada one, and that it was cast uj) on Sauton Sands. In that case, however, it would have been much damaged ; and as there are no traces of injury and it is in excellent repair, the tradition cannot be entertained. The handle and plate are of distinctly Spanish design, and the two figures are Spanish or Portuguese in appearance. The inscription is one of the most puzzling and extraordinary ever written, and has baffled some of the best experts in languages in the country. The difficulty is that the words are not divided properly, but run into each other, and some are mis-spelt, altogether forming one of the queerest jumbles imaginable. It
IpcK
Piote
Secltot/
Braunfon
occurred to the author to submit the inscription to the British Museum in order to ascertain if it could be deciphered and translated there. Having done so, it was passed to the Department of British and Medi;cval Antiquities and Ethnography, and taken in hand by Mr. J. A. J. do Villicrs, in the Library, who has very kindly solved the mystery, and has given the following translation — which all readers will agree is very clever — once and for all ilefinitely establishing the nationality of this chest. The inscription as arranged on the chest is as follows : —
OPRAZERDE DSVIVE ELE ESVAMO LHERESEVSEILHOSEFI LHAS SITRA
30 NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
Mr. de Villiers says it is in Portuguese, and gives the following arrangement and translation : —
or? (Joseph Eli)
OF(P)IlAZER DE IO(D)SVIVE ELE E SUA
Presented by . Joshua him and his
MOLHER E SEVS FILHOS E FILHAS SITRA
wife and his sons and daughters CINTRA
Cintra is on the east coast of Portugal, about 20 miles from Lisbon. The chest is made of a light yellow wood (perhaps cedar or olive), with very intricate dovetailing at the corners, and although the original hinges are missing, yet their positions can be traced. May we say that the chest was a wedding present to " E.G." and " D.C.?"
It dates possibly from the latter part of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th, and may have been captured by an English sailor, perhaps from the Armada or in the Spanish wars of James I. No doubt many of these pieces of furniture or heirlooms found their way into this country in those times. Mr. John Chugg, of Morte Hoe, has in his possession a foreign chest of about the same date and size as the one in Braunton church, and made of the same kind of wood, but it has no in- scription, and the lock and fastenings are quite plain. This chest is undoubtedly also Spanish or Portuguese, having large incised figures, on the front, of a man and woman, with a coat-of-arms between, in the form of two wild boars holding a shield.
The altar is formed of an old Jacobean table, of neat design, and discovered some years ago in a loft.
There is a magnificent monument, in the Renaissance style, attached to the south wall of the nave, near the transept — a really splendid piece of work — to the Incledon family, of Buckland, 1558 to 1746, a mass of carving surrounding the inscription slab, richly decorated. It is of great size, occupying a space 14 feet high by 7 feet wide.
On the south wall of the chancel aisle is preserved a fine brass to " Lady Elizabethe Bowcer," with an inscription as follows : —
" Here lyeth lady Elizabethe Bowcer, daughter of John, Erie of Bathe, & sometyme wyffe to Edward Checester Esquyer the wyche lady Elizabeth decessyd the xxiii day of August in the yere of or Lorde God mdxlviii. Apon whose soulc God have mercy."
The lady is represented as kneeling before a desk, the sides of which are ornamented with the " linen pattern." This brass is very interesting, as on the reverse side a few lines are deeply cut, forming a rough outline of a man's head. What this means it is difficult to say. It can hardly be meant to represent the lady's husband, as no possible likeness to anyone in particular could have been intended. May it not have been a joke on the part of the engraver, done when fixing the brass on to the slab in the aisle — its original position ?
The church is well placed, at the eastern end of the village, on a level site ; and viewed from the south-west is perhaps the most striking and unusual looking of all the North Devon churches.
l^e §^apet of §t ^xanxxoc^ ox §t "g«;icf;acf.
It may be of interest to include here a short account of the little roofless chapel situated on the hill above the village, to the north-east, and of which a plan and sketch are given.
By some it is called St. Brannock and by others St. Michael, and is one of several chapels formerly in and near the village. Its four-centred arches indicate
I
BRADNTON PARISH CHURCH.
^1
that it was erected in the Tudor period— possibly about 1510. It is built in random
rubble walling, of local stone, which is also used for the arches ; but the reveals, or
inner sides of the windows and doors, bear traces of having been formed up with
dressed freestone, but only one block of this remains — in the east window — the
building having been stripped of all except tliis piece. Tlte walls arc thick for the
size of the building— 2 feet 6 inches tliroughout— and are left rough on the inside,
but there are slight traces of plastering. There
are two entrances and three windows. A shallow
porch protects the west entrance — the masonry
of which is sloped back at tlie top, and continueil
up as a small projection around the west window.
Part of tlie west gable remains, with its parapet ;
and the set-off for the roof timbers can be seen
on the inner side of the parapet. Immediately
adjoining, at the east end, there is an excavation
in the ground, which appears to be the spot from
which the stone for the walls was dug.
It is possible that the object of placing the chapel at such an altitude was that it should not only be a place for worship, but that it should have a guiding light, placed in a turret. The buil ding, as situated, would have been admirably placed for this purpose, as it can be seen for miles around. There is a tradition that St. Brannock could not complete the building of this chapel because the materials were miraculously removed at night, after three attempts to complete, to another spot " down the hill," and that the materials were used in the building of a church elsewhere in the village. One has heard of this tradition connected with other Devon churches, the culprits sometimes being the pixies or pisgies — mischievous little fairies believed in by our Devon fore-fathers. There is no evidence to show that the chapel was never completed — in fact there is proof to the contrary ; for the parish accounts of Braunton state that in 1655 the sum of 2.S. 8d. was paid for "holing stones" for St. Brannock's chapel — really meaning slates for the roof, probably obtained in this case from a local quarry producing stone of thin strata. The same term is still used for slates among many Devon builders. The above entry proves that the chapel was roofed and a completed building. When its use was discontinued it was allowed to become a ruin. In the walls arc a few holes, which, at a distance, look like put-log holes for scaffolding, and would load the casual observer to suppose that they are the original perforations; but as these holes go right through the thick walls, they cannot therefore be put-log holes, as it would have been unnecessary to provide a bearing for the put-logs of more than nine inches or so in the walls.
LIST OF VICARS OF BRAUNTON SINCE 1208.
This list was made out by the late Rev. J. Ingle Dredge, vicar of Buckland Brewer, and is based on the list comjiiled by Dr. Oliver.
:Plan.
1208. — Richard Briworre.
1231.— Roger do Kinkologhc.
1311. — Sir Andrew Dngouii.
1319. — Mngistor Bnrtholomeus do Cancto Lauroncio.
1373,— Robert Billopole.
Robert Mayo, whose inslitutioii does uot appear.
1427. — Thomas Frooman, M.A.
Oliver Seniior, no date of institution. 1494. — Thomas Collamor. 1549.— Thomas Stctt.
Henry Hibbort, no date of institution. 1558.— John Porto, B.A. 1690. — John Vicario.
32
NOETH DEVON CHURCHES.
1608. — Benedict Browninge, M.A.
1622. — William Challoner, the founder of Challoner's
School. 1667. — Femorum Pepys, M.A.
1672. — Nicholas Beare, the donor of Beare's Charity. 1693. — Anthony Gregory, M.A. 1732.— Robert Gilbert, M.A. 1750. — Charles Hinckesman, B.A. 1759. — Benjamin Clement, B.A. 1768.— Evan Rice, B.A.
1769. — John Marshall, M.A., on the appointment of
Evan Rice to Bishopstawton. 1772.— William Martin, B.A. 1791.— William Blake, B.L. 1796. — George Smith, M.A. 1807. — Joseph Lane Yeomans, M.A. 1826. — John Whittington Ready Landon, M.A. 1880. — William Genn Morcom, M.A. 1890. — Edward Robert Gotto, M.A.
As traditions always form interesting reading, the following notes by the Revd. E. R. Gotto, M.A., vicar of Braimton, which appeared in the North Devon Herald, November 7th, 1907, are herewith given as a supplement. Mr. Gotto says : —
"Westcote, the county historian, says: — 'Some ^vill have it that Braunton is to be called Brannock's Town, and to take name from a holy man or saint, of whom, if you will be attentive to a legend, I will read you briefly what I have found in the history of this place, which saith that he was the King's son of Calabria, a province as I take it of Naples, who arrived here in the time of King Malgo, Conanas's son, 581 years after the time of our Redemption. Here he landed, was seated, builded a church, and preached God's Word, and taught the people to manure their land (which was then in manner of a wilderness) by yoking harts, who mildly obeyed him, by milking the hinds, and with this plough brought timber to the place where the church now stands to build it. But to proceed further and to forbear to speak of his cow, which, being killed, chopped in pieces, and boiled in the kettle, came out whole and sound at his call : not to speak of his staff, his oak, and bis man Abel, which would seem wonders. Yet all these you may see at large, lively presented to you in a fair glass window at this present, as I think, if you desire it.'
Mr. T. Wainwi-ight — to whom we are greatly indebted , .
for these notes — says that the above was written in 1630. The window is, alas, gone, probably smashed by some Puritan assault on the old church, but the stags' heads are still to be seen on one of the wonderfully carved bench ends. Mr. Sabine Baring-Gould — no mean authority — says that St. Brannock, spelt Branoch, came from America, where he is completely forgotten or replaced by St. Bernard. The most probable history of St. Brannock — teste Mr. Wainwright, is that he is one of the British missionaries who crossed over from Wales to re-convert North Devon to Christianity, and possibly he may be the St. Brenach who laboured "chiefly in Pembrokeshire, and by whose means the chief, Brecon, who gives his name to Breckonshire, was converted to Christianity. Tradition names a well underneath St. Brannock's House, Braunton, as the Saint's Holy Well, and to the right of this well are some ruins locally regarded as the ruins of St. Brannock's Cell." Bfcu«i&o
33
England.
^aris^ §£}\xvc^ of |Va 3axnt$.
HO has not heard of Clovelly — the gem of the Severn Sea — the little cliflf village of such vivid colouring, perched in such a wonderful fashion up the sides of its rocky combe ; with the cottages framed in creepers, and rising, one above another, " up along" its cobbled staircase street? Absolutely unique is this " street," and probably the most precipitous in Clovelly is hardly discernible from the sea until you are quite close to it, so thick is the foliage in which it is embowered. It is a very ancient seaport, for, on the Bideford readjust above the village, are the great Roman earthworks, known as " Clovelly Dikes," of about 20 acres in extent.
The harbour is sheltered by a stone pier, said to have been built by George Carey, then lord of the manor, in the reign of Richard II. (1377-99 J, and which must have been the scene of many a hand-to-hand fight — Lundy pirates and buccaneers having their share. The pier was enlarged at the beginning of the last century.
The church is situated about half a mile west of the village ; surrounded by trees, and approached from the road by a beautiful avenue, bordered with fuchsias and shrubs.
It is closely associated with the Kingsley family, for Charles Kingsley's father was rector here for four years, and in the rectory ground is an old oak tree known as the " Kingsley Oak," around which the children used to play. Beneath the overhanging boughs of this tree stood a summer house, and close to this a flight of rough steps can still be seen, roughly formed in wood, and cut out of the sloping bank under the tree.
Viewed from the south the church has a somewhat uncommon appearance, owing to the tower being so low in comparison with the length of the building ; but the tower is older than the bulk of the present church, antl at the time that it was built probably had a timber spire, and the then existing chancel may have been shorter than now. Thus the tower would have been more in proportion with the rest of the building.
The church consists of a nave with north aisle, cliancel, south transept, south porch, vestry, and western tower containing six bells. Restored in 1866, it has the appear- ance of being a very well kc]»t building, and the general cflect of the interior is artistic, tlie variety o"f tints in the structure and fittings blending well. The stained windows not being too large, a pleasant subdued light comes through ; and the view looking west, taking in the ground storey of the tower, witli its lofty blue stone arch and piers, and the stained window beyond, i.s very pretty. Tlie combined length of the nave and chancel is 84 feet 9 mchea ; and the width across the nave and aisle is
.^r'-.
^ 1_ _ T tf IW
CLOVELLY PAEISH CHURCH.
36
31 feet 3 inclies. The church has 300 sittings. The Late Decorated arcading of the north aisle is in four bays, tlie arches and piers being in granite, probably obtained from Lundy Island. The piers are moulded and have curious Transitional caps and bases (fig. 4), and the arches are also moulded. The labour taken to produce these mouldings in such a material as granite must have been very great, especially with the appliances then in use. The piers are monoliths, that is, single blocks of granite, seven feet two inches in height from the top of the bases to the underside of the caps. The oldest parts of tlie church are the font and the stones forming the arch- way of the south porch. The design of the font (fig. 2) shows it to be Early Norman, if not Sa.xon, on the same lines as a " cushion " capital, the total height being three feet three inches from the top of the step to the top of the basin, and the width of the basin one foot ten inches across at the top. A peculiar point in connection with it is that the west face of the basin has been cut to its full depth, not upright, but sloping inwards towards the pedestal. Why it should have been cut in this way is puzzling, and one can only assume that it was made to fit at one time against a wall, or other masonry, which had a sloping face to it. Close by the font, on the floor, is the basin of an old font (fig. 5) found a few years ago at a farmyard in Hartland parish, and being purchased by Mrs. Hamlyn, of Clovelly Court, was brought to the church to save it from further desecration. It is much weather- beaten, and measures one foot in height by one foot eight inches across the top, and is probably of the same date as the font in use.
The archway of the south porch is formed with stones from an old Norman entrance (fig. 3), this archway and the font showing that a Norman church or chapel must have been here or near by. The pattern on the stones shows Early Norman zig-zag work, done in reeded lines, quite plain, but very effective. The reeds of the piers stop half-way up the cap and finish at the bottom on a chamfei*ed base — now hidden by the step, but probably originally above the ground level.
There are no recorded dates as to the erection of the existing or any former church, therefore the opinions now advanced rest entirely on the close examination of the structure, linking it up, as near as possible, with past work. A Norman building — probably a chapel — was the first place of worship on or near the site of the present cl lurch, the only re- maining traces being the font and the stones of the porch archway. This structure was followed by an Early English church, of which there is suffi- cient evidence in the fact that the tower is of decided p]arly English character — true, it could not be of plainer design, but with a spire such as it very probably had when first built, and the west window (now i-^ filled in with Perpen- cu»vtiij
36
NOETH DEVON CHURCHES.
dicular tracery) in Early English work, this plainness would not have been so noticeable. (In general construction and design it corresponds closely with the Early English tower of Martinhoe church, near Lynton). Its height is 50 feet from the ground to the top of the parapet.
This Early English church would probably have consisted of a nave and chancel, with the existing tower. The present nave and chancel may contain some of the walling of this period ; in any case they are most probably built on the Early English founda- tions. During the Decorated period, perhaps about 1370 (Edward III.), the north aisle was built, as is shown by the Transitional Decorated piers and arches, and also by the details of this period showing in the old north doorway to this aisle. Some old fourteenth century work also shows in one of the chancel windows. Later on, during the Perpendicular period, the south walling of the church would have been largely rebuilt, and possibly the chancel extended ; the existing roofs were put on, and Decorated or Early English tracery gave place to Perpendicular, and some new windows built or old ones enlarged. Judging from the roofs, the transept and porch are of this
^m
1f>o4
SetKon
ClovOhf FIG- 5
Fic.6
period, the porch probably standing on the site of the assumed Early English church porch, and in which the old Norman stones may have been built (probably originally obtained from the north entrance of the Norman structure). Thus, Clovolly church contains old structural work from about 1070 (William I.) to about 1450 (Henry VI). The roofs throughout are of the usual Devonian " wagon " form, open-timbered and plastered between the common rafters ; the timbei'3 being left plain, with the exception of the wall plates, which are either moulded or have dentils planted on. The roof of the aisle appears to be rather older than that of the nave. The mural monuments to members of the Gary family, are very elegant and richly decorated, and include a tablet to Will Gary, of " Westward Ho ! " fame, who died in 1652 (Commonwealth), at the age of 76. The pulpit (fig. 1) is Jacobean in style, dated 1634 (Gharles I.), and was given by Will Gary. It bears the Gary arms, and below the date the initials of the donor are carved.
The design is very pleasing — the pattern on the top and bottom rails contrasting
CLOVELLY PARISH CHURCH.
87
well with the plain panelling. Resting on the floor of the chan- cel, within the altar rails, there is a very fine stone monument to Robert Gary (Knight), who died in 1586 (Elizabeth) ; it is in the Elizabethan Renaissance style, the detail of the mouldings and carving being extremely refined. Rectangular on plan, it occupies nearly the whole length of the south wall between the altar and the rails, the main portion being plain, relieved with circular columns, the caps of which are of uncommon design, consisting of a mass of conventional foliage with volutes appearing at the top. These columns support the entablature, which is finely proportioned, the mouldings being carved with acanthus leaf and other classic enrichment, and the frieze covered with an elaborate interwoven fretwork pattern. Between the columns are panels bordered with Elizabethan twisted scroll-work.
On the west wall of the chancel is a brass to Charles Kingsley. The east memorial window is to Neville H. Fane, Esq., formerly lord of the manor, the figures represented being Our Lord and some of his apostles and saints ; and in the top lights are coats of arms of the Fane, Hamlyn and Williams families. The window is a fine example of modern stained glass work, as is also the west window in the ground storey of the tower — a memorial to the Rev. Wm. Harrison, a former rector of Clovelly, and representing the Virgin Mary, Elijah, and St. Andrew. A memorial tablet, near the north door, is to Sir James and Lady Hamlyn, who had the Hobby Drive at Clovelly constructed.
The seats are old and of oak, left quite plain,fsimilar to those in Hartland church. A curiosity can be seen in the three little bracket seats attached to the bench-ends at the south-west of the nave (fig. 6) ; and opposite these, on the other side of the aisle, between the benches, there were three others — traces of the pin-holes showing. These scats were assigned to the parish apprentices, i.e., pauper children, who thus sat facing each other, three each side, at a distance of about five feet. They must have been decidedly uncomfortable, as the scats are only about six inches by nine inches, and the backs of course upright.
A very beautiful specimen of Italian needlework adorns the front of the altar, the design being very full, in conventional leaf and floral pattern, dono with green thread. The modern twisted iron-work for the lamps, throughout the church, is very chaste, and forms quite a distinctive feature. The woodland surroundings make a perfect setting to this old church, especially when viewed from the south.
litatow
<^-5fS
39
^axis^ g^urc^ of §i. ^etex ab Wincufa.
OMBE MARTIN possesses a fine church, built with ruddy stone, in a beautiful situation, about half-way up the village, on the western side of the valley. Its appearance, as a whole, strikes the observer as being more ornate than many of the ancient churches in the district — this applying more especially to the tower and the embattled north front of the building. One would naturally expect to find such a church here, for the place Avas formerly a market town, the charter for which is still preserved ; and it was noted for its mines of silver and lead ore, which were worked during the Edwardian and Elizabethan days, and at various times up to 1875. In 1297, miners were imported into the town from the Peak district and Wales, and also, by Queen Elizabeth, from the Harz mountains, Germany. The silver cup, belonging to the corporation of London, which is still used at the annual inauguration of the lord mayors, is made of Combe Martin silver and bears the date " 1593." The church is dedicated to St. Peter in chains, and consists of a nave with north aisle, chancel with north aisle, north and south transepts, north and south porches, vestry, and western tower. The combined length of the nave and chancel is 70 feet, and the width across the nave and north aisle is 34 feet 3 inches. The chui-ch was restored in 1881, at a cost of £500 ; the registers date from the year 1736, and there are 450 sittings. It is clear, from certain features, that an Early English church, built perhaps about 1200 (John), formerly stood on the site ; in fact, Oliver de Tracey, rector of Ilfracombe, who died in 1273 (Kdward I.), is said to have founded a shrine in the church ; and in 1333 (Edward III.), Pliilip and Eleanor dc Columbers founded a chantry here — probably the south transept of the existing church, in the same way that the south transept of Mortehoe Church is supposed to be the chantry founded by the then rector, William de Tracoy, in 1308 (Edward II.). This Early English church, which may have been built by the first Martins (who built so many churches in South Wales), would probably have consisted of the bulk of the present nave and chancel, also the south transept. In addition, it may have had a western or northern steeple. When the fifteenth century builders took this church in hand, probably about the year 1410 (Henry IV.), they spared the chancel, the south wall of the nave, and the south transept. The tower would then have been built, the north wall of the nave and chancel opened out, and aisles built to each ; also the north porch erected. Other constructional work carried out would have been the roofing throughout — probably not plastered as now, but open-timbered to the rafters. At this time the windows in the south wall of the nave and south transept would have been lancet ones, and must have been left intact, for it is recorded that they were
do
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
FlG.1
iZmbitrjoi-fih
subsequently widened, as they did not give enough light, and were then filled in with tracery of Perpendicular design. These are the -windows as now existing. At some time between the fifteenth century operations and the widening of the nave windows, the one immediately east of the south porch was altered to a Perpendicular window, a portion of the exterior arch of which can still be seen. This window was again altered to conform with the other windows of the nave when they were enlarged. The lancet windows in the south wall of the chancel are probably restorations of the original ones. Judging from the walling, the east wall of the chan- cel has eAddently been rebuilt, the triple- lancet -nindow reinstated, and the chancel extended eastwards about 18 inches — done perhaps to give more room around the altar, where the door of the parclose screen cornea. Before this probable extension, the east wall would no doubt have been in line with the east wall of the vestry, which now shows a set-back of about 18 inches.
The south porch was built in 1724 (George I.). The nave arcading is in three bays, the arches having a span of 12 feet 2 inches. The piers are set, as usual, diagonally, with half-columns at the angles, and shallow " wave " mouldings between; the half-columns and mouldings finishing under the necking of the carved caps or bands. These caps, two of which are shown in fig. 1, are excellent examples of Early Perpendicular carving, and form quite a distinct featiu'e, and the hexagonal bases to the piers are equally good, and typical of 15th century work. The ground-storey arch of the tower, opening into the nave, is boldly moulded and of considerable height. The jamb and arch mouldings and the bases are duplicates (except that they are larger) of the corresponding parts of the nave arcading ; the caps terminating the half-coliunns being semi-octagonal, but rather debased specimens of the usual Perj)endicular octagonal caps. This is rather strange, seeing that the remaining detail is so true to the style. The archway, as a whole, although smaller, resembles in general eft'ect and detail the celebrated noble and very lofty one of Hartland church tower, built about 1400 (Henry IV.).
The north transept has an Early Tudor four- centered arch, and its ceiling also shows work of that period. The erection of this transept would therefore date about 1480 (Edward IV.). The great fifteenth -century western tower — the finest feature of the church — is 99 feet high to the battlements, measuring 14 feet by 14 feet (interior measurement) on the ground floor ; of four stages, finished ^vith an embattled parapet, with a lofty crocketted pinnacle 12 feet high at each corner, and contains a clock and six bells. The windows which occur in the various stages lend much interest, as they are evidently the r^ z
(XfAb^)
COMBE MARTIN PARISH CHURCH.
41
FlG.5.
original ones, appearing to be very little, if at all, interfered with or restored generally. The buttresses are of very bold projection, and continue up to just below the parapet, giving an effect of great strength. Tlie old doorway in the west wall (formerly the west entrance to the church) is a fine specimen of Perpendicular work, and perhaps the best feature of the tower, (fig. 2.) It is of graceful outline, well proportioned, and contains the original stonework, except a part of the arch. The jambs, arch, and label are all carried out with a good series of mouldings ; the central hollow mould of the jambs and arch is ornamented witli the conventional four-leafed flower and small plain shields, alternating at intervals.
Sculptured work was freely introduced on the exterior of this church, and the tower buttresses have niches in them still holding carved figures — now sadly weather-worn and almost unrecognisable ; and the north transept has a niche in its gable, but the figure is missing, and the north porch also had a niche, but it has been built up.
The buttresses are finished at the top with grotesque carved animal-figures, three being almost entirely decayed ; but the one on the north-east buttress is still intact — no doubt owing to its comparatively sheltered position (fig. 3), and shows a bold and vigorous piece of carving, the grip of the front paws of the animal being especially noticeable in the idea of strength that it conveys. The carving measures 3 feet by 3 feet. The three other animal figures were, as far as their outline can be judged, similar in design.
The tower approaches somewhat the Somerset type ; and when first erected and complete, with its sculptured work and other carving undefaced by time, must have been the leading one for beauty in North- West Devon,bearing comparison with Chittlehampton and Cullompton, further south. The north porch is sufficiently high to have contained at one time a parvise or room in its upper part, which would have been used in pre-Reformation days by the sacristan or sexton, for the safe-keeping of the church treasures.
The roofs throughout are of " wagon " form ; the nave, chancel, and aisles having plastered panels with moulded ribs anil carved bosses, and the north transept having an Early Tudor roof on similar lines, but having, in addition, carved floral paterio in the centre of each panel, which, together with the ribs and bosses, are painted antl decorated. The south transept has a plain plastered ceiling, not panelled. The roofs of the nave, north aisle, and chancel aisle have moulded stone corbels immedi- ately below the wall plates, which no doubt formerly carried carved wood angel- figures similar to those found in the roof of Northam and other churches.
Tlie foundations of the nave piers and the jambs of the tower archway are exposed to view to the extent of eighteen inches in depth, showing that the floor has been
Fig-.
(gmbt^hrtin
42
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
Fi&A
lowered to that extent. It used to be customary for burials to take place in cburclies, each person's grave being usually near the seat occupied during life ; and the lowering of the floor may have had something to do with this fact, for possibly the remains of persons so buried were removed from beneath the church, and the floor relaid at a lower level. The font (fig. 4) is a good example of Early Perpendicu- lar work, date about 1415 (Henry V.), and consists of an octagonal basin, stem, and base, a pretty effect being obtained by the four little outstanding pillars on which the basin partly bears. The basin is ornamented on each side, except the west, with shallow sunk tracery panels representing the various periods of Gothic tracery, from Early English to Perpendicular. The west side has been disfigured, the tracery being cut completely away. It retains, however, traces of some colouring. The co%'ing below the basin has carved paterae worked on it — four-leaved and quatrefoil design. A stoup (formerly a receptacle for holy
water) remains in the south wall, at the right-hand of the south door on entering,
and consists of a plain pointed recess, eight inches deep. The pulpit is modern, of
stone, in the Decorated style. The former pulpit was a " three-decker." The
reredos forms a massive and handsome feature in the Early English style, showing
arcaded work with trefoil-headed arches, and pillars between, surmounted by a
moulded cornice, mth dog-tooth enrichment, the whole being richly decorated in
colour. A carved grotesque figure of a monk
holding a glass is to be found on the exterior
of the church, just below the parapet on the
north-west corner of the nave aisle, (fig. 5.) The church possesses seven stained windows,
the east one of the north aisle being very good,
and representing the Ascension and scenes
from the life of St. Peter ; and in the south
wall of the chancel, next the screen, is a
stained window, the centre portion of which
consists of genuine old glass, representing the
seraphin of Isaiah vi. 2 and the wheels of
Ezekiel i. 15-20.
A Perpendicular semi-octagonal pilaster or
mullion can be seen in the east wall of the
chancel aisle, being all that is left of a
probable former stone-panelled end or reredos
to this aisle, which was at one time a chantry
chapel ; and the extreme east pier has a niche
and remains of a pedestal, both defaced, and
no doubt at one time containing a carved
fioure. In the extreme north-east corner of
the chancel aisle is a recess. 3 feet wide and *"'«^.
COMBE MARTIN PARISH CHURCH.
43
7 feet high, arclied with a half four-centred arch. It has been suggested that it was originally an Easter sepulchre, but this is very improbable. An Easter sepulchre is a place in which at Easter time an effigy of the Saviour is laid as if in a tomb — a custom prevalent in churches on the continent ; but generally the so-called sepulchres are so placed that the worshippers can pass in a continuous stream in front. Placed in a corner as this recess is in Combe Martin church, and with the altar close to it when it was a chantry chapel, it would have been most incon- veniently situated and also too narrow to have been used for the above purpose. It is possible that it was provided as a shelf, or table, for the use of the priest, and that the half- arch was a whim of the builder.
The date of the oak chancel screen is probably about 1150 (Henry VI.), and it retains the original bays and panelling. The length is 34 feet 3 inches, and | the height 11 feet 2 inches. It consists of nine and a half bays, with closely reticulated tracery heads of exceptionally neat design. The panelling below contains painted figures of saints, coarsely and conventionally done, it is true, but still very picturesque and very valuable as old figure painting. They are in a remarkably good state of preservation, and one of the best series of painted screen figiu-e-work in Devon. The upper part of the screen, above the arches, is plastered and finished with a moulded plaster cornice. This plaster work was done in 1727 (George II.) — a scheme of two churchwardens, John Peard and Timothy Harding to wit — and the initials of these gentlemen and the date can be seen duly recorded on the plastering. Before this, the por- tion of the screen above the arches was most pro- bably in a ruined condition, hence the plaster- work which was considered by the worthy churchwardens a fitting reinstatement. The critical year for the parish churches was 1547 (Edward VI.), and a general spoliation of the church fittings took place then, as well as later, in Queen Elizabeth's time. Many of the rood-lofts survived the decrees of Edward VI. and Elizabeth that they should be removed,
and it is possible that the one over the screen - ^^.^
in Combe Martin church remained until the ^"'- ^ (s "
Commonwealth — 1649-60 — when a further and greater desecration of church property took place by the Puritans. The rood-loft stairs still remain, going up in the cast wall of the south transept, but unfortunately tiic staircase (perhaps the most interesting feature in the church) is boarded up at its entrance ; consequently no examination can be made as to its construction or the way that it terminates at the top. The stones forming the semicircular-headed doorway at the foot of the stairs appear to be those of an old doorway from the previous church, re-used here, and their position reversed ; for what is now showing seems to be really the back of the stones and the rebate for the door frame, placed in this way so that the door should open outwards clear of the stairs. There is also an indication that the inner side of the arch (which woukl formerly have been the outer side) is more or less pointed, as a stopped moulding, rising abruptly from the springing of the arch, can be traced. To provide sufficient room for the staircase, a new cast wall was built for it,
44 NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
projecting beyond the main wall of the transept. A rather unusual feature is the canopied double-niche in the west side of the chancel pier, which breaks the con- tinuity of the screen at this point. These two niches no doubt bore carved figures. Altars were sometimes placed on the western sides of chancel screens, but it is improbable that this double-niche formed a reredos for an altar, because the corbel- rests are continued down to the floor in an ornamental way, which would not have been the case had an altar been here, as such ornament would not have been required, seeing that it would have been hidden by the altar.
The two pairs of folding doors in the screen (one to the chancel and the other to the aisle) are quite a curiosity from the fact that it is impossible to close them, owing to the width of each pair being gi'eater than the ^vidth of the bays in which they are hung. It is very probable, as so many believe, that the doors were constructed in this way as a symbol of the heavenly gates, which " shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there." The screen gives no indication of having been compressed by any settlement of the building, and the overlap of the doors is too much for this to be a feasible explanation.
The parclose screen, between the chancel and its aisle, is a fine specimen of Perpendicular work, of later date than the chancel screen. The carving of the spandrels and cornice is exceedingly good, and modelled with much spirit, in conven- tional floral forms. The screen is 15 feet 9 inches long and 9 feet 2 inches high, and of five bays, sub-divided into four sections each by small mullions carrying the tracery, and the lower part consisting of panels left quite plain.
In the chancel aisle is a brass to William Hancock, a former lord of the manor, who died in 1587 (Elizabeth), and above the inscription is a coat-of-arms. A fine marble monument, in the Renaissance style, is fixed over the vestry door, and contains a half-length figure, carved in white marble. The monument is to Judith Ivatt, who died in 1634 (Charles I.), wife of Thomas Ivatt, " his majesty's principal sercher in the port of London." In the same aisle are some interesting old oak seats with carved ends, two of which are shown in fig. 6. These bench-ends are of various dates, from about 1500 to 1550, some showing Early Tudor work, and others the coming influence of the Renaissance style — for instance, see fig. 6 (b), where there is a combination of Tudor Gothic and Renaissance, the latter style showing in the scrolls in the upper panels. On the top rails of several of the bench- ends are some mutilated carvings — grotesque representations of birds and animals. An eagle and dragon can be identified, the latter shown in fig. 6 (a).
The vestry door is ancient, and is jirobably of 15th ceutm-y date. It measures 6 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 8 inches, is studded with several rows of large square- headed nails, and bears a plain " sanctuary ring " and plate, and also a very curious " safety " lock Avith two key-holes (fig. 7). The door would be first locked with the large key, and then re-locked with a smaller one as a double protection. A hinged flap comes down over the smaller key-hole, presumably to hide it, and may have been fastened with a pin or other appliance in some way, as the flap is drilled with two holes near the key-hole. The south entrance door also has a sanctuary ring and plate, the latter being a duplicate in design and size of that on the vestry door of Barnstaple Parish church. The old door at the foot of the tower staircase is also evidently a l5th century door.
In the vestry is an interesting relic, viz., the " Poor Man's Box or Chest " (fig. 8). Mrs. Toms's book," Notes on Combe Martin," gives the injunction of Queen Elizabeth in 1559 regarding such chests : — " No. xxv. Also they shall provide, and have within three months after this visitation, a strong chest with a hole in the upper part thereof, to be provided at the cost and charge of the parish, having three keys, whereof one shall remain with the parson, vicar, or curate, and the other two in the custody of the churchwardens or any other two honest men, to be appointed by the
COMBE MAETIN PARISH CHURCH.
45
parish from year to year, which chest you shall set and fasten in a most convenient place to the intent the parishioners should put into it their oblations and alms for their poorer neighbours."
The chest is made of oak, and has the required three key-holes. A curious old set of pewter altar-vessels and some old keys are kept in it. The book above referred to also contains an account of the agreement made between John Taylor, of Oxford, and Joshua Harris, churchwarden, as to the re-casting of the four church bells into six in 1827 : — " The tower Bells of Comb Martin was taken down and Cared to Buck- land Brewer Febery 14, 1827, and cast Febery 15, 1827, by John Taylor from Oxford. Joshua Harris, Churchwardin, went down to Buckland-brewer with the bells, and had the bells cast at the time he was there, and brought agin. March 3, 1827. 4 ould bells cast into 6 bells. Joshua Harris made the agreement with John Taylor for new castin the bells for the sum of 125 pownes, findin of Everything taken Down and Caring away and bringen agin, and pouting oup new weels and clocks and brasses, and clapers, and timber, and iron, and everything excepting rops. And keep the bells in repear 12 months at his own expence. (signed) John Taylor."
The organ was erected in 1905 as a memorial to the Rev. Humphry "William Toms, M.A., rector of Combe Martin 1842-1904, and is placed in the chancel aisle. The choir and instrumentalists were at one time in a gallery at the west end of the nave, the tower archway being plastered up, and the window in the west wall of the tower filled with slates ! Two items from the churchwardens' accounts relating to the orchestra are as follows : —
1797. To William Willis for repairs of Musickel Instrument 1799. To William Willice repairing the Base vile
One of the best views of Combe Martin is to be obtained from the top of the church tower ; the formation of the big, sunny, and fertile valley being seen to per- fection, with the long line of houses bordered on each side with strawberry and vegetable gardens ; while away to the north-east, forming a fine background, lie the Great and Little Hangman hills, bearing up to the western fringe of Exmoor.
LIST OF RECTORS.
|
s. |
D. |
|
15 |
0 |
|
12 |
6 |
1309 — Sir William Tracy (held living for six months, and is perhaps the same as William Tracey, rector of Mortohoe,who lived about this time).
1310 — Sir John de Chernebury.
1325 — Sir Lodowicii de Kommeys (Camois.)
1353 — Sir Simon Hervey.
1391— John BeUe.
1391-2— Richard Noreys.
1402— Nicholas Stoko.
1404-5— William Goldyng.
1405— Philip Pope.
1415 — Robert Wantyngo.
1416 — John Langle.
1433— Thomas CoUe.
1448 — William Meolys (or Mules).
1473— William Broke.
1489 — Thomas Harsnapp.
1501— William Fello.
Edward (or Kdmund) Foxe.
1534 — Richard Major.
1651— Richard Gyll, M.A.
1653 — Nicholas Herper (Harper).
1568 — Ven. Richard Tromayiie.
1582— Peter Motfordo, M.A.
1695— Richard Richards, M.A.
1633— John Morris (or Morritt), B.A.
1659 — John Newall (ejected and harrassed by ths
Puritans).
In this interval officiated : — 1674, F. A.
Richards, Minister from Kentisbury ; 1676,
Jno. Harder (1 year Curate, and 4 years as
intruding Rector). 1681 — Edward Hancocko. 1708— Richard Horwood. 1741 — George Gregory, M.A. 1757 — James Carrington, M.A. 1794— William Toms, M.A. 1833 — John Blackmoro, B.A. 1842— Humphry William Toms, M.A. 1904 — Francis Wolferstau Toms, M.A.
47
Waris^ @^urc^ of §t. l«larv.
ERE, where the North Devon coast starts to trend south-westwards on to the Atlantic, stands the little village of Mortehoe, several hundred feet above sea-level. Many a funeral knell must have been rung out from the church tower, for the village is behind a wild, but yet grand shore, with rocks like a shark's teeth ; and, standing in grim solitude, a quarter of a mile or so off Morte Point, is the treacherous " Morte Stone," known and dreaded by mariners world-wide, shomng black and pointed when the tide is low, and only just covered at high-tide. The number of vessels, previous to the building of Bull Point Lighthouse, which must have struck this rock when sailing too far in, and have either gone down in deep water like a stone, or have had their ribs shattered on the cliifs in-shore, will never be known.
Kingsley says of it, " The Morte Stone, the ' Death Rock ' as the Normans christened it of old, does not belie its name even now. See how, even in this calm, it hurls up the columns of spray at every wave ; and then conceive being entrapped between it and the cliffs on some blinding, whirling, winter's night, when the land is shrouded thick in clouds, and the roar of the breakers hardly proceeds by a minute the crash of your bows against the rocks."* Figure-heads of lost craft and seats made of wreckage, displayed in the village, tell their own tale.
The grey old church of St. Mary has well wthstood for centuries the blast of the winter gales, and is one of the most interesting of North Devon churches, with an especially charming interior.
It consists of a nave and north aisle, chancel, south transept, south porch, vestry, and north tower, containing six bells and a clock. The registers date from the year 1721 (George I.), and there are 200 sittings. There are no known records of the structure previous to 1308 (Edward II.) but there is a tradition to the effect that a church was erected at Mortehoe in 1170 (Henry II) by Sir William de Tfacey, who lived here secluded from the world after the murder of Thomas-u-Becket at Canterbury, in that year, and in which he took a part, and the tradition is certainly strengthened by the evidences of Norman work to be found in the existing building. An examination of the church shows that a Norman structure, probably a chapel, formerly occupied a portion of the site of the present church ; for there are traces still left which bear this out, chief of which is an undoubtedly Norman archway in
•Since KiuKsley wrote this, Bull Point Lighthouse, about 1 milo oast of the villago, has been built (in IS7!I). It haH a fixed rod light to murk the position of the (tone, and also bun u powerful fug^horn. Mow it vory tjulduui huppouu that a Testel will etrike tbiu stone.
48
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
the north wall of the nave, leading into the tower, the arch being in two semi-circular rings (a main and sub-arch, quite plain, and in characteristic bold Norman style. This archway would have been the north entrance to the little building. From certain evidences a considerable enlargement of the structure took place in the Early English period — a time of a great amount of church building throughout England — and the church then built would possibly have consisted of the present tower, and the bulk of the present nave and chancel. A reliable guide as to the date of this Early English work may be obtained from an examination of the tower, which is of very similar character in construction and design to the tower of Bideford Church, built about 1260.
To prove that the Norman building was not demolished, but altered and consider- ably enlarged the author advances the following opinions : — First, the tower is built apart from the north wall ; that is to say, the south wall of the tower does not form part of the north wall of the nave, but is a wall entirely separate from it. (fig. 1.) This shows that these two walls (and consequently the tower itself) were not built at the same time, and that the nave wall is the older of the two ; for if the nave wall had not been left standing then one wall (the tower wall only) would have been built, forming and being in line with the remaining parts of a new nave wall, and with a straight joint right and left where abutting against it, to allow for the settle- ment of the tower. Second, portions of the present south wall of the nave may contain Norman walling, or there is a probability that the wall is built on the Norman foundation, from the fact that the nave is so unusually narrow in proportion to its length, and which indicates an extension of the Norman chapel in length westwards, but not in width. It is doubtful if the Norman structure extended more than a very few feet west of its north entrance, and would probably have extended eastwards as far as the present chancel arch. This arch is pointed, of equilateral shape, with a quite plain soffite in one ring, and with im- post mouldings in the shape of a square bead, hollow-chamfered, and probably Norman, although the usual triangular groove or quirk between the hollow and fillet is not included. Authorities diff^er as to the date of the arch, and it has been described as either Late or Transitional Norman. The fact, however, of the impost mouldings being of probable Norman date does not prove that the arch was built in that period, for the mouldings may be Norman ones reused. Similar instances of the reuse of old Norman material can be seen in some of the nave arcading in Ilfracombe church, built by Bishop Stapeldon in 1321, Norman neck mouldings of similar detail to those in the chancel arch of Mortehoe church being reused. Also a much later instance occurs in Northam chiirch, in the arcading of the north aisle of the nave, built in 1593, where Norman " cushion " caps and chamfered neck-mouldings were reused.
In all probability the arch was constructed when the Late 13th centuiy works were carried out, taking the place of a narrow and low semi-circular Norman arch — that is, assuming the Norman building possessed a chancel. It resembles in general appearance the arches erected a few years later in Braunton and Westdown churches, and elsewhere, in the Early Decorated period.
The first known reference to Mortehoe church occurs in the Bishops' Registers at Exeter, wherein it is stated that in 1308 (Edward II.), the then rector. Sir William de Tracey, founded a chantry here, dedicated to SS. Mary Magdalen and
Ficl
arch.
riortehot
MORTEHOE PARISH CHURCH.
49
St. Catherine. He died in 1322, and is said to be buried in the south transept. He was probably the William de Tracey who held the living of Combe Martin for six months'in 1308, and who was a relation of Sir William Martin, of that place. (The tomb in the transept bears the Martin arms.) The existence of this old tomb goes a long way to prove that the rector was buried in this part of the church, and the transept would be the chantry founded by him ; for there are no traces of a north transept or other portion of the church which may have been a chantry. The tomb (fig. 2) is made up of a large granite inscription slab, which has converging sides, and measures 6 feet 9 inches in length, the width at the top end being 3 feet, and at the bottom end 2 feet 2 inches. It is seven inches thick, with sloping edges. An inscription is incised on the top in Norman -French, in Lombardic characters, running around the west end and south side, and reads : —
8YRE .
. AME DE TRAC ALME EYT MERCY.
The inscription as originally cut may have borne the translation : " Sir William de Tracey, may God have mercy on his soul." " Syre " was a title given to all priests,
and is the Latin " dominus." A roughly depicted figure of a priest in full vestments, holding a chalice, is incised on the slab, which is considerably worn away, (fig. 3.) It is mounted on a Hamhill stone base, the west end having a carved representation of the Crucifixion ; the north side has carved figures, supposed to bo SS. Mary Magdalene and Catherine, and the before mentioned Martin arms ; and the south side has a striking series of panels, showing deeply cut Gothic tracery, in Early English and Decorated desig-ns. A part of this patch-work base is possibly from a small, but elaborate, high-altar, which may have been erected in the chantry chapel by its founder, Sir William de Tracey, in 1308 (the Decorated period). He was no doubt a descendant of the Traceys, who arc known to have held land at Mortehoe and neighbourhood. One of his ancestors would very possibly have been the knight. Sir William de Tracey — one of the four who murdered Thomas-a-Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170 — and there is some ditterence of opinion as to whether the tomb does not belong to this knight rather than to his namesake the rector. The names are the same, and there is no date on the inscription slab, but the figure of the priest incised on it establishes the fact that it must be the rector's body which was dopositod below, or near it, and not that of the adventurous knight.
60
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
It has been held that if the tomb were the rector's, then the inscription being for a priest wouki have been in Latin. But this is not always the case, and instances can be cited to the contrary — for example, in Navenby (Lines.) church there is the tomb of a priest, and the inscription is in Norman-French.
The author gives the following theories as to the history of the transept and its tomb : — The transept, as before mentioned, was erected as a chantry chapel by Sir William de Tracey, the then rector, in 1308. When the rector died, in 1322, he was buried in the transept, and the slab rested either immediately on the floor over the burial place, or on a plain low base. It is improbable that it was ever placed upright against one of the walls, as the wording at the top would in that case have been upside-down, and therefore unreadable. The altar possibly continued until the suppression of secondary altars between Henry VIII. 's and Elizabeth's reign ; or if it survived their decrees, it may have been in existence up to the Commonwealth and the Puritan days, 1649-60.
The transept is divided from the nave by free-stone arcading, in two unequal bays, the arches being four-centred and rising from a slender octagonal pier. The original transept arch would have been an Early Decorated equilateral shaped arch, such as may be seen in most of the chm'ches containing these 14th Century chapels. The eastern respond of the arcading and the soffites of the arches are panelled, and there is also gToined work springing from the corner window and the octagonal intermediate pier. The mouldings of the arches and the cap of the pier are in a very debased Gothic style, not even showing the purity of Tudor work, but of quite Classic character, roughly done. The pier is also without a proper moulded base. The base consists of a plain octagonal block. The four-light corner window (accurately restored in 1885) which was built in conjunction with the arcading, has
riG.3
tlToHthoe.
the
arcading.
On the octagonal
also mouldings of a similar character to those of
pier the initial letters and date '• I.B. 1618" are cut, and above these the initials " R.K." appear. From the foregoing particulars it is very probable that the arcading and window were constructed in 1618 (James I.) — the date on the pier. The poorness of the detail does not warrant an earlier date ; and where these Early Decorated transeptal chapels occur in North Devon churches it is noticeable that the original plain arches remain — not having been destroyed by the 15th century builders. This substantiates the idea that the arcading, etc., is not of earlier date than that cut on the pier, although the design is on Tudor lines. The character of the work shows it to be just such as would be erected in the Early 17th century, when Gothic architecture had reached a very decadent state. It may be mentioned that the arcading of the north aisle in Northam Church bears the date of its erection — (1593)— in a similar way. The altar (a Decorated one) used by the chantry priest in the chapel (now the transept), was probably removed about the middle of the 16th century, and part of the materials, as before conjectured, used as a base or support
MORTEHOE PARISH CHURCH.
51
for the Tracey slab as it now stands ; for the tomb could not have occupied its present position until the altar had been taken down, because it would of course have been in the way of the officiating priest, standing so near as it does to the east wall. The cutting away of the junction of the transept west wall and the nave wall by the insertion of the corner window, was evidently done to give a better view of the nave to worshippers in the transept, which in the case of this church would have been particularly essential, owing to the nave being so long and narrow.
The tower is 44 feet in height to the top of the battlements. The inside measure- ment of each side on the ground story is 8 feet 8 inches, and the walls are 3 feet 5 inches in thickness, slightly battering on this storey. The south side would appear to have been rebuilt, or refaced, at the same time that the buttress was built, and made thicker than the other sides ; the extra thickness resting on the nave wall, and causing the east window of the belfry stage to be north of the centre line.
The arch of the tower north doorway is built in a peculiar way, with very long local stones, alternating with shorter ones, forming a very strong arch. (fig. 4.) The door, which appears to be modern, has a pair of old wrought iron hinges of elegant Early English design, (fig. 5.)
The chancel fioor is on the same level as that of the nave, but formerly it may have been higher by one step, the bases of the piers of the north aisle indicating this, as they are nearly buried by the fioor, and should really show at least six or seven inches more in depth. The details of the roof, and the depressed four-centred arches of the arcading, point to the north aisle having been built in the Tudor period, date about 1540 (Henry VIII.). The mouldings and carving of the roof are coarse, but the arcading is very cleverly built in thin local grey stone, the piers being octagonal, >vith square bases, chamfered at the angles, and the arches are semi-octagonal. The west end of the aisle shows walling of bright blue and grey tints, the plaster having been removed in 1885, and so exposing the stone to view. From this, some idea of how the tower looked when first erected can be obtained, for when the aisle was built, this wall (really the east wall of the tower) was no doubt scraped and repointed, after having been exposed to the weather for 240 years or so. The inner doorway of the south porch has a four-centred arch in local stone on its inner side, and a semi-circular one on the outer side. The stones forming the latter arch, with its jambs, are probably from an old Norman door or window. Judging from the inner arch and from the mouldings of the roof rib at the top of the cradle roof, this porch was built at about the same time as the north aisle. The nave roof is a splendid specimen in its way of a 15th century oak open- timbered cradle roof, in a fine state of preser- vation. It has no ribbed and bossed panelling usually found in Devonian roofs of that period, but simply a longitudinal moulded top rib, which gives a very striking cffbct of length to the roof. The detail of the transept
r~iG ^i-
t»iorh=>ioe.
21^^^^^
FIQS
62
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
roof indicates that it was erected at about the same date as the arcading. It is a cradle roof with a panelled and plastered ceiling, having roughly carved bosses at the intersection of the ribs. The chancel roof is modern, of steep pitch, open- timbered, with braced rafters and longitudinal rib. The old oak seating or benches in the nave, with carved ends, are very good examples of West-country workmanship. The detail of the bench-ends, shows them to be of late Tudor date, about 1540 (Henry VIII.) which can be seen by the costume of the gentleman (or part of him) shown in fig. 8. There are 48 carved bench-ends, and they were restored and some partly renewed when the church was restored in 1859. Many bear the initials of the carvers or donors ; others have the emblems of the Crucifixion, and some have grotesque sea monsters carved on them. (fig. 7.) The second bench-end east of the south door has a curious representation of what is believed to be the head of John the Baptist on one panel, and his prison on the other — the latter figure being a copy of one in Braunton Church, (fig. 6.) The pulpit is a modern stone one in the Decorated style. The font also is modern. The former pulpit stood at one time against the south wall, just west of the corner window, and at that time there was a west gallery,
EiG. G
FIG.7
Flc-. S
Mortthor:-
and the seats were old-fashioned high-backed pews. The church contains several stained glass windows, the best, perhaps, being that in the east wall of the north aisle. It is a two-light window, being a cojiy of a portion of the large five-light memorial window to Lord Frederick Cavendish in St. Margaret's church, West- minster, and designed by Mr. Henry Holiday. It was erected to the memory of the Rev. John Derby Ness, who was for 58 years cm-ate and vicar of Mortehoe, and who died in 1884, and also to his wife Elizabeth Jane. Erected by their only daughter, it represents Our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane, and also on His way to Calvary. The three-light east window of the chancel is a very charming piece of work, in well graded tints, the subject being Our Lord in the boat on the Sea of Galilee — a memorial to John Derby Rowe Ness, who died in 1857, at the age of 18, and erected by his parents. In the transept is an elaborate mural monument of good design, in the Renaissance style, to Marj^ Heddon, of Campscott, who died in 1889, aged 22. The inscription states that " her parents to perpetuate her memory have dedicated a sum of £1,500, the income of which is to be distributed annually on the 27th day of October among the labouring poor of the parish of Mortehoe."
MORTEHOE PARISH CHURCH.
63
Facing the nave, on the wall at the east end of the aisle arcacling, is a monument (fig. 9) to "Mary, wife of Thomas Newell, of Easswell, Gentn, and daughter of John Cutcliff, of Damage, Esquire, who died the 9t]i day of May, 1700, aged 38 ; and also to Mr. Thomas Newell, Gentn, who died Nov. 20t]i, aged 61." (No year is mentioned, but presumably it is 1700.) It is of good Renaissance design, 6 feet in height, by 3 feet 6 inches in width, and is decorated with colour and gilding. The handsome mosaic containing figures of angels over the chancel arch, on the nave side, was designed by Mr. Selwyn Image, and was erected by Dr. G. B. Longstaff, of Mortehoe, in memory of his wife, who died in 1903. The beautiful red altar frontal was the work of this lady.
Two of the church bells are of exceptional age, and bear Latin inscriptions. Expert opinion (Ellacombe) says that they were cast by Robert Newton, of Exeter, about 1430 (Henry VI.).
The Rev. J. F. Chanter, the well known authority on church plate, describes that at
Mortehoe church as follows : — " Chalice. Usual Elizabethan style, with foliated band, though the stem is somewhat shorter than the usual type and knob is varied ; height 6 inches; bowl 4 ins. diameter, 3| ins. deep. Marks: Usual marks of T. Matthew, except that " T " is omitted and ornament stamped twice ; but in middle of bowl there are some old hall marks, almost obliterated by hammer.
" Chalice cover. Elizabethan, with band 4^ ins. in diameter ; 1 inch high ; button I5 inch diameter, Marks : Three usual marks of T. Matthew, Exeter, 1565 to 1608.
" Paten. Plain on stand, very rude hammered work ; the stand probably a later addition, very roughly soklered on. No marks. Inscription (pricked letters) I X M., Vicor (M.A.) (P.P.)
To conclude, one may say that the most striking feature about this church is the fine effect produced by the low height of the nave and its narrowness in comparison with its length ; and this is the more marked as there are no aisles, with the exception of the short north aisle. The total length of the churcli (inside measure- ment) is 83 feet ; the nave being 58 feet long by only 15 feet 4 inches in width. It has only one public entrance, viz., the soutli entrance — which is unusual for a church of this size. Not having been restored to any great extent, the church has well retained its early characteristics.
rjbpfehot
Mljlrvuitr
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Q 0
I, i: »
o
0 ,<<
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9
55
'Waxxs^ @^urc^ of §t. l^tic^aef.
0 reach Great Torrington (commonly known as Torrington) church means an ascent from the railway station of 300 feet. This is the town's altitude above the river ; but the climb is well repaid, for the country around is one of the beauty-spots of North Devon. Viewed from the south the town is said to resemble Jerusalem. The great green hill on which it is built is bordered at its base by the winding river Torridge, with beautifully wooded ravines in the background. Castle Hill marks the site of Tho Castle, rebuilt by Richard de Merton in 1340 (Edward III,), and it is from here that the wide-reaching grandeur of the landscape can best be seen — even the conical peak of Yes Tor, on Dartmoor, 18 miles to the south, showing up quite distinctly — given a clear day. Torrington is called on the map Grreat Torrington, to distinguish it from Little Torrington — 3 miles distant, and is a very ancient place ; a market town of Saxon times, and having its fair as early as 1226 (Henry 111.).
The borough sent members to Parliament in the reigns of Edward I., II., and III., and has seen some fighting during the 17th century Civil War.
Margaret, Countess of liichmond, and mother of Henry VII. (1485-1509), lived for some time in the town, llisdon, the Devonshire historian, who was born at St. Giles-in-the-Wood, 3 miles from Torrington, states that Margaret, " pitying the long path the pastor had from home to church, gave him and his successors the land and manor house adjoining."
The existing church can hardly be regarded as very ancient, for it was built in 1651 (The Commonwealth), but it is of considerable interest, because the church which proceeded it was blown up during the battle that took place at Torrington between the Royalist and Parliamentary forces in the Civil War in 1645 (Charles I.), the greater portion being destroyed ; and also because it is an example — not very common in Devon — of a complete 17th century country church, with the exception of the comparatively small amount of modern additions, and the incorporated parts of the former church which survived the explosion. In order to understand the present church properly, it will be necessary to relate, as far as old records will permit, some of the events just precccding its erection, and also to give some account of the former church. Such records are contained in the book " A few pages of Great Torrington history, 1642-1646," being the published lecture given some years ago by Mr. George M. Doe, tho Town Clerk of Torrington. It states that "On the 6th February, 1645, the Royalist forces, imder Lord Ilopton, left Launceston and reached Torrington on the 10th of the same month. Rumours of this soon reached Fairfax, the General of the Parliamentary forces, who was before
66
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
Exeter ; upon which he abandoned the seige of that city, and on the 14th February, left Crediton with an army consisting of nearly 10,000 men, and reached Chulmleigh the same day. From there he advanced to Torrington, by way of Stevenstone, on the night of the 16th February ; and, after a severe action, the Royalists were defeated and many prisoners taken, some of whom were confined in the church, where 80 barrels of gunpowder had been stored by the Royalists." The evidence as to whether the powder was wilfully or accidentally fired is conflicting. Joshua Sprigge, the chap- lain of Fairfax, in his narrative of the battle at Torrington, says that " The magazine of near 80 barrels of powder, which the Lord Hopton had in the church, was fired by a desperate villian, one Watts, whom the enemy had hired for the purpose. Lead, stones, timber, and iron work were blown up into the air and scattered all over the town and fields about it." Fairfax, however, in his official account of the battle, says that " 80 barrels, as reported, of powder were blown up purposely by a prisoner, or accidentally by a soldier, and the church was quite blown up, houses shaken and shattered, and stones, timber, etc., carried up very high." Torrington can boast of having had Cromwell in its midst, for Sprigge, in his account of the precautions taken before the battle, says that " The General (Fairfax) and Lieutenant-General (Cromwell) went from Master Roll's house to see the guards accordingly set." Fig. 1 is a sketch of the gabled
from frt 0/4 ^r/m"
GREAT TORRINGTON PARISH CHURCH.
57
THi5 CHVRCH Bl O vv £ n V P
WAS
Wl TH POWDER, FEBR Y 16^"
ANQ. 1645 ' ■rebuilt a"
AND 165»
T
T
1
house in Torrington (now much modernised), which is reputed to be the one where Cromwell lodged. It is situated opposite the Town Hall.
As to the amount of damage done to the church, Sprigge does not say it was completely destroyed. i Fairfax says it was " quite blo\vn up." It may, — however, be safely conjectured that the latter's report, which was an official one, was most probably sent up immediately after the action, in the excitement of the moment, without a very close examination of the ruins.
In the letterpress part of an old book entitled " Devonshire Illustrated with a Series of Views,"
published in 1832, and \vritten by Messrs. J. F'« - _ ; G<-/-orA,-,'i,
Britton and E. W. Brayley, Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries, it is stated, regarding the explosion in Torrington church, that " All the western part of the church was destroyed, but the chancel, with an adjoining chapel, and a southern tower, escaped, though not without much damage." This statement is evidently right, for an examination of the present church at once discloses the old surviving parts referred to. In the same book it is also mentioned that " In November, 1830, the old tower, which had long been unsafe, was begun to be pulled down ; and a new tower, which is now in progress, was commenced at the western end of the church, to be surmounted by an octagonal spire." A sketch is here given, based on an engraving in the book, showing the present church from the S.E. as it was in 1830, the old southern tower just before it was pulled down, and also the vestry, S.E. of the chancel. A clue as to the style of the former church is afforded by a study of the old tower shown in this valuable engraving. It is stated that the upper part of the spire was blown down by a hurricane and falling through the roof did considerable damage. This, then, would account for the curious conical -looking termination to the spire. Before its downfall it was a " broach " spire, lead-covered. This is very clearly shown in
FIC.B
•j^/';in-.»H»"
58
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
Pi
■a
the engraving, where the lead-covered angle-broaches are seen, and also by the large spire-lights. This spire was thus originally very similar to the fine lead-covered broach spire of Barnstaple parish church, built about 1316, and was pro- bably contemporary with it, which indicates that the former church of Torrington was erected at about that date (Early Decorated period), and was enlarged in the 15th century.
To pass on to the description of the existing church, the first thing to note is the old stone, with inscription, built in on the outside of the west wall of the south transept, and giving the date of the blowing-up of the church and its rebuilding, (fig. 2.) On entering the church one is immediately struck with the air of brightness and good colour-contrast which it possesses, and also with its well proportioned and lofty nave and aisles. It is obvious that in spite of the decadence in Gothic architecture which set in during and after the 15th century, the 17th century builders of this church succeeded in erecting a structure which will compare well with many of the more ancient of Devon churches. It is principally in the Decorated or 14th century style, and consists of a chancel, nave with north and south aisles, north and south transepts, south porch, vestry, organ chamber, and a western steeple. Internally it measures 106 feet 7 inches from the west end of the nave to the east end of the chancel, and the combined width of the nave and the two aisles is 61 feet 5 inches. It was restored in 1864, and has 1,200 sittings. The registers date from the year 1616 (James I.), and contain a number of entries relating to the burials of officers and soldiers killed during the Civil War. It may be of interest to relate that at the restoration a large quantity of lead from the old church, which had run in a molten state under the floor, was found when the floor was removed, and also a couple of shillings of the reign of
Charles I. One of these coins is in the possession of Mr. Doe.
The parts of the former church which survived the explosion and are contained in
the present church, ai'e, as far as can be ascertained by an examination of the
structure, as follow : — The vestry (the most interesting part of the church) situated
immediately east of the south aisle, and of which a detailed sketch is given in fig. 3.
It is of Early Tudor work, probably about 1485
(Henry VII.), and has three two-light square- headed traceried windows, surmounted with a frieze
and embattled parapet ; the former having a series
of quatre-foil panels, with centre shields, and the
latter having foliated and regular quatre-foils, with
centre carved decoration, in the form of Tudor rose
and other floral carving. This beautiful Tudor
work, if it was not the vestry in the old church, may
either have been a part of the east end of a south
aisle, or connected with, or have been part of, a
possible south chapel. Its richness of detail rather
points to the latter conclusion.
The seven Perpendicular moulded piers, with
carved caps carrying the moulded arches, forming
pC.Or
G'^7orrmyfo9
PUAIS
Fie 5
GREAT TORRINGTON PARISH CHURCH.
59
the nave arcading (from about the miclcUe of the nave, back to the chancel), are evidently constructed principally of the remains of the arcading from the old church ; for, apart from the look of age which_ they possess, there is every reason to suppose that these elaborately moulded piers, etc. — most of them blo\vn down or disturbed, but not necessarily damaged to such an extent as to render them (or portions of them) unfit for re*-use — would, with this object in view, have been carefully preserv^ed by the inhabitants, who would have recognised the value of such material, and have foreseen that the church would be rebuilt. The
fiG. <S
QfJZ>r/-/nfko
extreme eastern bay of the south aisle is probably the original one of the former church, undisturbed ; that is, it probably never fell when the explosion occurred ; for it IS of smaller span than the remaining bays, and also the arch is lower. On the piers of this bay are traces of niches (fig. 4), which would originally have held carved figures. The canopies and other parts of the niches have been hacked away, the tool marks showing on the stonework — whether done in the Reformation time, or later, during the Puritan days, will probably never be known. One can only suggest that it could only have been the Puritans, with their very rigorous
60
NOETH DEVON CHURCHES.
desecration of the churclies, who would have troubled to hack away the harmless canopies as well as remove the figures. The remaining parts of the former church, other than the foregoing, would probably be the foundation of the south transept, and a part of the chancel foundation and walling. As before mentioned, the tower survived the explosion, although much shaken ; and when the church was rebuilt, the tower was no doubt repaired. In 1830, however, it had become so dilapidated that it was taken down, and the south transept built — judging from the size and shape — on its foundations. If the north transept was also built at this time, it was made as a duplicate of the south transept on plan. If built in 1651, when the general rebuilding was carried out, it is rather singular that it should have been of so small a size for such a large church, and placed so imusually far west. Its arch — assuming it to
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Difail of
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rj
have been built at the above time— would be a copy of the ground-storey arch of tbe old tower ; this ground-storey, and the north transept, being to all intents and purposes duplicates, and the placing of the transept so far west, intentional, so as to be opposite the tower, for the sake of symmetry.
The western piers of the nave are square, or nearly so, and support arches, chamfered on the underside ; the piers and arches being quite plain, without mouldings. At the junction of the Perpendicular moulded arch with the plain chamfered arch in the arcading of the north aisle, a very interesting and somewhat daring corbelling occurs, (fig. 5.) This corbelling rather strengthens the opinion that the carved caps and moulded piers in the church are those blown down in tbe former church, and reused here ; for it is evident that the western 17th century arch is adapted to the inadequately sized carved cap, which has every appear- ance of being of 15th centuiy date, the corbelling being resorted to so as to give the necessary space at the springing of the two arches.
The western steeple was built in 1830, and consists of an embattled tower, 57 feet in height, with panelled and crocketted pinnacles, and a lofty octagonal spire, finished with a weathercock. It is in the Decorated style, built in ashlar freestone, and contains a clock and eight bells. The bell on which the clock strikes the hours bears the date 1632, and has two sixpenny pieces of the reign of James I. attached to its sm-face. This bell was the one which formerly hung on the outside of the old south tower, and can be seen in the sketch herewith given. The other bells were cast subsequently to the blowing up, and three of them quite recently.
The roofs are ** cradle " roofs, panelled and plastered throughout the church, and having carved bosses where the ribs intersect — those in the chancel being gilded. The reredos is a fine piece of work in the Decorated style, with a carved central group representing the Last
Supper, the margin being carved with floral designs. The pulpit is of
oak, and is a very good specimen of Renaissance work. (fig. 6.) It has panelled sides, the outer angles of which are finished with columns, iu pairs, having Corinthian caps and moulded bases, and the frieze has boldly carved panels. The underside of the desk bears the words " Heare Gods Word " carved on a scroll. The pedestal is a modern stone one. The pulpit is probably Georgian, dating from
PIG 7
GREAT TOKRINGTON PARISH CHURCH.
61
about the first part of the 18th century, and was perhaps a gift to the church. It is typical of much of the work to be found in the churches of Wren and the later Eng- lish Renaissance architects. It is supposed that Cromwell's chaplain, the famous John Howe, preached from this pulpit ; but this can hardly be the case, seeing that he held the living from 1652 to 1662, and the Renaissance style had scarcely been felt in England until the Great Fire of London, in 1666, gave Wren his chance. Hitherto, Gothic had been the universal style for church building, the only variation in the fittings being the Jacobean style, prevalent in James I. reign — quite distinct from that of the pulpit in question.
The church possesses no less than thirteen stained windows, the best being the four in the north wall of the nave and the one next to the south transept, depicting scenes from the life of Christ and the Prophets, and erected by the late Mr. William Fredk. Glubb, of Torrington, who died in 1901. On the north wall of the chancel is an exceedingly fine old monument, to Sarah Gooding, the daughter of Daniel Prideaux, and to her husband, Samuel Gooding. The inscription slab is surrounded by a mass of carving, very delicately cut, and with angel figures at the top, supporting a coat-of-arms. The size of this grand mural monument is no less than about 10 feet 6 inches in height by 6 feet 5 inches in width. Another monument, of good design, is to be found on the east wall of the south aisle — to Judith, daughter of John Hancock, of Combe Martin, who died in 1676. A gallery formerly stood at the west end of the church, and there are traces of the arches of two large windows at the extreme end of the north and south aisles. In each corner of the tower, where it joins the nave wall, is an old 17th century rain-water pipe and head. The one in the south comer is dated 1655 (fig. 7) but the other (see head-piece) bears no date.
A list of pre-Commonwealth vicars is not possessed by the church. The following list of post-Commonwealth vicars, with mention of two who served Torrington just before, and two during the Commonwealth period, is taken from " Some Notes on the Vicars of Great Torrington since the Commonwealth," by Thomas Cann Hughes, M.A., read at Totnes, August, 1900 : —
VICARS. (Pre-Commonwealth.) 1683 — Christopher Furneaux.
D»t« of Inatitation. 1698 — Hercules Hoyles.
No date. Richard Head (was preaching in Torrington 1713 — Samuel Johnson.
in 1642.) 1746 — Henry Tonge. (His daughter Sarah married in
No date. Theophilus Powell (ejected in 1646 —
Charles I. Became rector of Langtree in
1662, and died there in 1666). (Commonwealth.) No date. Lewis Stuckley (died at Bideford in 1687). 1652— John Howe (ejected in 1662. Charles II.).
He then founded the church at Torrington —
now the Howe Congregational Church. He
died in 1706.
Post- Common wealth .) 1662— Robert Wishart.
1786 the first Earl Nelson, brother of the
great naval commander). 1785 — Thomas Marsden. 1790— Richard Slade. 1798— Thomas Warren. 1805— Ralph Orde. 1807 — John Fanshawe. 1810 (six months) — James Webber. 1810— Charles Hodgson. 1816 — (Jeorge Morgan. 1849 — Samuel Buckland. 1894 — Frank Bmlyn Jones.
62
Ov/etpni
'®a66iporf. g^^apcf or §i. W'dxx^ l^ag6afen.
HIS little building is situated near the bridge wbich spans the river Tor- ridge at the hamlet of Taddiport, below the hill at the western end of Great Torrington. Taddiport is built on the south side of the river, and is 1^ miles north of Little Torrington, in which parish it is situated, and the chapel is used as a chapel-of-ease in connection with the parish. It is a building dating at least from 1311 (Edward II.), for in the Register of Bishop Stapeldon there is recorded the institution of Sir Richard de Brente, priest, on the 2nd of February, 1311-2, to the Chantry of St. Mary Magdalen, "juxta Pontem de Chepyngtoritone." Apart from its age, it is also of interest from the fact that it was attached to a Leper Hospital which stood on the ground adjacent to it. In a paper
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o. Taddip'xt- a. LxXWt Tum'ngfijii -o.
"» J*[vc>\ i9oe^ from rh* S E
ATM
TADDIPORT CHAPEL-OF-EASE.
63
dealing with this hospital, written by Mr. George M. Doe, the Town Clerk of Torrington, and read before the Devonshire Association in 1900, the writer states that Thomas Reymound, in his will, dated 8th June, 1418 (Henry V, j, left " 40d." to the hospital. There is no record of its having been in existence before that date,
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and it was still standing in 1729 (George II.) ; for in a copy of the Magdalen lands rental, dated November 3rd of that year, there are entries of the " Lazar Houses," but all traces have now disappeared. From the foregoing dates, therefore, one must conclude that the chapel was in existence before the hospital. It consists of a nave and north-east transept, with a tower at the west end. The nave is 30 feet
-64 NOETH DEVON CHURCHES.
10 inches long, and 11 feet 7 inches wide, and the transept 13 feet long and 10 feet 9 inches wide. The quaint little west tower is peculiar, for it is oblong in shape ; its exterior measurements, where it rises from the roof, being 7 feet 9 inches by 9 feet ; the interior space beneath it, at the floor, being 5 feet by 5 feet, and its arch rising to a height of 15 feet. The tower has slightly sloping or battering sides, with little square-headed lights, and an embattled parapet, with curious cylindrical pinnacles at the corners ; and contains a bell, about a foot high, bearing the initials " I. P." in raised letters, and the date " 1645 " (Charles I.), with two coins on its outer surface, but which are not decipherable.
In the nave at " C" (see plan) is a recess next the tower, 7 feet high and 3 feet wide, very probably a doorway at one time ; and when this was blocked up, the present doorway would have been formed. Over the recess is an old oak three-light Tudor window, measuring 2 feet by 2 feet 2 inches. The transept is probably of later date than the nave, and may be the chantry referred to in the Register of Bishop Staiford, to which Thomas Verlegh, priest, was instituted in 1396 (Richard II.). In its west wall at " D " (see plan) is part of an old window opening, walled up. The font is a modern stone one. The roofing is very plain and simple in construction, open timbered, and having collar-beam trusses. Both the roofing and the walls of the building are whitewashed, and painted on the east wall of the transept are remains of the Ten Commandments. On the south wall of the nave is painted the following text: — '* Woe to them that devise Iniquitie and worke Evill upon theyr beds. When the morninge is come they practice it because it is in the power of theyr hand : And they covet fields and take them by violence. And bowses & take them away : So they oppress A man & his howse. Even A man & his heritage : Micah the 2 cap."
The rents and profits of the hospital and houses connected with it had been granted to the Mayor, aldermen, and capital burgesses of Great Torrington and their successors, and to the churchwardens and overseers of Little Torrington and their successors, for the relief of the poor of the town and parish. Mr. Doe is of opinion that the selection of the above text for putting on the wall was because of some spoliation or misappropriation of the charity property.
The only bit of ornamentation in the chapel consists of some lengths of carved oak wall plating at the foot of the rafters of the transept roof, the carving showing 16th century work, of a plain repeating design. The outside of the building is plastered and the roof slated.
Chiefly through the efforts of the Rev. T. McClelland, Rector of Little Torrington, the chapel has been much improved, and a pretty three-light traceried Perpen- dicular window put in at the east end. Services are regularly conducted in the building.
inia*
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NOKTH MOLTON ChCRCH.
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JHE little ancient borougli and market town of Southmolton is very likp the little ancient borough and market to>vn of "^ are built on high ground — Southmolton having . . Exmoor, and Torrington, southwards, of Dartmoor, ita name from the ri 'C-, on the western b
situated, and at the Norman Conquc. . . ^ ^.ed part of the Crown i A quaint bit of information is cnv'en bv Riadon, who states thr. Edward 1 ' ' • the Earl oi >
cor •"^' . ..i. i! arrows to attt....
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arii... , ^..., ,_,, ;,..,^ .w,.-... ,,, the ^~''-
in If'i'.r. M took place here, , 8ir Jn^
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portion of the Pa
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1 on an the church is buildina:. 1 ■ chancel, south pnrcl;, \ c-.trx
by some t Croiuweli's iu'
■'"■■■ ''''^- '•-•■■ • ^'^■' ■r-rih wall .v tiu
■•0 a tradition ti jixy ariiiy, who the '. here, stabiea tneir horses in
n, the appearance of
L the south. It ia a large
■ ' - ' ' ""a nave and
i transepts,
Hc f' in lower. A large portion is ol rifteenth century work.
la jL.t book "^' . • '■ i4' the Borough -' ^'-Tthmolton."
:s with regard f .ng, wliich are ;u • — In 1410
' ion " of the chancel of
(Henry iV.) an enquiry was held as to the "grievou.s ."
thr "- ■'■- I ■■ This'-' t^. " ~ --.--:--
organ ;. oen for
50 years without an organ. In 1706 (Anne) the old oak seats or benches — some
ears 1« chancel screen, with its rood lott, and the p>ircl' ons between the chancel and
its '• ' ■''- ' --■ ' -' .,..-. . ■ j^
1- . ailt.
In 1825 (George IV.) it M-as widened by extending the north and 9f»uth walls of the n»ve aisles 7^ feet out, and also a gallery was erected against each of these wall*.
P\>rEI.UNO,
North Moltok Cuokch.
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66
Waris^ §^urc^ of §t Warv WciQba£me.
HE little ancient boroiigh and market town of Southmolton is very like the little ancient borough and market town of Torrington, and both are built on high ground — Southmolton having views, northwards, of Exmoor, and Torrington, southwards, of Dartmoor, Southmolton takes its name from the river Mole, on the western bank of which it is situated, and at the Norman Conquest formed part of the Crown demesnes.
A quaint bit of information is given by Risdon, who states that in the reign of Edward I. the Manor was held by Lord Martin, under the Earl of Gloucester, on condition of his providing a man with a bow and three arrows to attend the Earl, when hunting in the neighbourhood.
Also like Torrington, Southmolton can lay claim to having been the scene of an action fought between the Royalists and Parliamentary Forces in the Civil War ; for in 1655 a skirmish took place here, when 200 Royalists, under Sir Joseph Wagstaflfe and^'others, were defeated by some troops of Cromwell's horse; and tradition says that Wagstaffe escaped by leaping his horse over the north wall of the churchyard, which is still known as " Wagstatfe's Wall." There is also a tradition to the effect that a portion of the Parliamentary army, who then quartered here, stabled their horses in the Church, and defaced the stone pulpit and did other damage.
Situated on an elevated site in the central portion of the town, the appearance of the church is distinctly noble, especially when viewed from the south. It ia a large building, having seating accommodation for 1,060 persons, and consists of a nave and chancel, with north and south aisles to each, shallow north and south transepts, south porch, vestry, and western tower. A large portion is of fifteenth century work. The late Mr. John Cocks, in his book " Records of the Borough of Southmolton," gives some historical facts with regard to the building, which are as follow: — In 1410 (Henry IV.) an enquiry was held as to the "grievous dilapidation" of the chancel of the then existing church. Tliis led to the construction of the present church.
In 1702 (Anne) a new organ and rood loft were fixed. The church had been for 50 years without an organ. In 1705 (Anne) the old oak seats or benches — some finely carved — were converted into high-backed pews! In 1711-12 (Anne), a gallery, next the tower, was erected for scholars. During the years 1757-8 (George II.), the chancel screen, with its rood loft, and the parclose screens between the chancel and its aisles, were destroyed, and the organ moved to the west end of the church. In 1759 (George II.) the church was re-roofed, and the arcades taken down and rebuilt. In 1825 (George IV.) it was widened by extending the north and south walls of the nave aisles 7^ feet out, and also a gallery was erected against each of these walla.
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SOUTHMOLTON PARISH CHURCH.
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Owing to the galleries blocking the windows, the latter were lengthened downwards. The year 1858 saw the chancel repaired and restored, a new cast ^vindow inserted, and two old windows in the north and south walls blocked up. In 1865 the arcades were again rebuilt, the walls raised higher, and a clerestory constructed ; the whole church newly roofed and seated, the south and west galleries removed, and the organ placed in the south tran- sept. In 1870 the organ was divided into two parts, and again fixed at the west end — but on the floor. In 1900 the chancel was paved with black and white slabs ; new oak choir stalls erected, a new organ purchased, and placed in the north aisle of the chancel, where it now stands. The south porch, and parvise over, were built in 1865, replacing a 15th century one. The writer is of opinion that the church which preceded the present one was a Norman structure, with no doubt Early English and Decorated additions ; and that the walls of the chancel of the existing church out of which the great arches are cut, are Norman (being the remains of the former church), for they are of enormous thickness — no less than 5 feet 9 inches — and could only have been built in the Norman period — that in which very massive construction reigned.
The chancel arches, opening into its north and south aisles, are of large span, and
of depressed four-centred Tudor form, with panelled soffites. When these arches
were constructed, the massive walls on their western bearings were thinned away —
the great thickness allowing this to be done without risk. The overhanging portions
were then supported by carved corbels. The cutting away of the walling may have
been done purely to obtain an architectural feature, there being no stone
chancel arch ; or the object may have been to broaden the chancel opening and give
more length for the rood screen ; in any case the effect is most striking and unusual.
When the 15th century south porch was taken down in 1865, parts of a
Norman font — complete except one stone — were found built into the walls. This was
probably the font from the former church, broken up and used in this way, for a new
font (fig. 7) was supplied when the rebuilding took place in the 15th century. It is
very probable that the rebuilding was spread over a considerable number of years in
the 15th century, the work commencing with the
nave and its aisles, as the detail in this part of
the church shows it to be earlier than the
chancel, the aisles of which — judging from the
great arches — were probably opened out in the
Early Tudor period, of date about 1485 (Henry
VII.) The north aisle of the chancel and the
south transept were used as chantry chapels, as
the piscinrc still in existence in them clearly
show. (Figs. 2 and 3.) These piscinae were
discovered in 1865 on removing the plastering
from the walls. There is a niche to each of the
eastern piers of the chancel arches which
formerly bore figures. Southmolton church has
a remarkably large amount of fine Perpendicular
and Tudor carved stone work, restored no doubt
to some extent, but so carefully done that the
68
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
original outlines have apparently not been interfered with. The caps of the nave piers are very vigorously carved in different designs ; some in conventional Perpen-
in most curious figure work — for instance, see fig. 4, a cap
dicular, and others i m m e d i ately west of the chancel, show- ing a most absurd inter- twining of men's figures with grasped hands. What the carv- ing on the cap (fig. 5) repre- sent s is not
known with any degree of certainty. Judging from the costume one can only suggest that it depicts a foot soldier of about 1420 (Hem-y V.), who is holding his shield, and having regaled rather too freely at table, is in the act of toppling over ; the serving- maid leaning back and laughing at him. The gentleman at the corner holding a shield is probably not connected with the story. Fig. 1 shows one of the corbels before referred to at the chancel opening. It contains a half-figure of a man looking down in the direction of the nave, and it has been suggested it may represent the builder of the church.
A very graceful piece of work is the Tudor doorway to the vestry (fig. 6),
a beautiful interlacing leaf pattern running around the jambs and arch, and also having the spandrels carved. The font (fig. 7) is Late 15th century date, and of elegant design ; octagonal, with deeply sunk cusped quatrefoils, with centre leaf ornament on each side of the basin, the coving below having large leaf paterae. The stem is modern.
The finest feature of the church is the splen- did 15th century pulpit — truly a gem, and of exquisitely refined detail and perfect proportion and grouping. It is of Beer stone, and each of its five sides has niches with crocketted cano- pies, containing figures of Our Lord and the four Evangelists. Each side has margins of carved floral work, and the pedestal is finished with a cresting and a cornice of interlacing tendrils in two rows. The carving closely resembles, in the design and intricacy of its detail, that found in the Devonian rood screens of about 1430-50 ; and the pulpit would probably date from that period (Henry VI). It shows very little sign of having been injured by Cromwell's troops, as is traditionally supposed, with the exception of the figures — the heads of which were evidently knocked off, the existing heads being restorations.
The interior of the church during the 15th and two follov\ing centuries must have been exception- ally beautiful, with its wealth of stone carving, its rood and other screens, carved bench ends, and
r>s. c
.r<>»f»'*"k"
SOUTHMOLTON PARISH CHURCH.
69
melted some lead on the roof, and moved a bell out of place. The spire was then taken down, the vanes removed from the pinnacles, the roof relaid with lead, and the present ironwork and weathercock put up. The tower was repaired and repointed in 1845, and again repointed in 1900. On its south side it bears an uncommon looking old Perpendicular niche (fig. 8), but the figure is missing. Carving, representing the heads of three ladies — possibly the donors of some part of the church — is built in over the niche. A very interesting feature is the winding stone staircase in the east wall of the south transept, which led to the old rood-loft. This transept has a pretty embattled south wall, with a raised central portion, and enriched with quatrefoils, finished at the angles with crocketted pinnacles. The nave has a clerestory, with five three-light windows on each side; but they are not visible on the outside of the
open-timbered cradle roofs. The chancel retains its old oak open -timbered cradle roof — a fine specimen, and decorated in colour. It closely resembles the fine old oak cradle rooting of Northam Church. All the remaining roofs are modern collar-beam roofa of steep pitch.
The tower is of 15th century date, as can be seen more particularly by its doorway, a good and typical example of Early Perpendicular work, well moulded, and with carved floral paterfc of conventional design in the central moulding. Of sturdy appearance, the tower is known as "Strength," and is 107 feet 6 inches high from the base to the top of the parapet, and to the top of weathercock about 128 feet. It contains a peal of eight bells, hung in 1807 (George III.), and a clock. Until 1751 there was a spire, and large pinnacles with vanes at the corners. In that year it was struck by lightning, which injured the spire and the pinnacles,
JL_
church, owing to the
height
of the roofs of the
north and south aisles.
There is a large amount of stained glass within the church, thirteen windows of large size contain- ing it, perhaps the best being that in the windows of the nave aisles.
On the walls of the north and south aisles are two richly carved old monuments in the Renaiss- ance style, but the inscriptions arc not legible.
A memorial slab on the wall of the north aisle is to " Mr. Henry Karslake and his wife Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Joshua Hole, Minister of the
Soufk pJdiIm
70
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
Parish, and two of their sons, all of whom were destroyed by a fire which broke out in their house in the Town, on Jan. 30, 174.9." The reredos was erected in 1866, and is very ornate, in the Decorated style and built with Caen stone, with crocketted gables and marble shafts, two of which carry angel figures. It was the gift of the late Alderman Cock, churchwarden for many years. The stone screen separating the tower from the nave, is a handsome, massive, and lofty structure, erected in 1903, in memory of Eliza Melhuish, and its traceried doors were given by the late Mr. John Morris, formerly of Sauthmolton. They are of Spanish mahogany, of very fine workmanship, and were purchased by Mr. Morris from a French mansion.
The following list of incumbents is taken from the before mentioned book — " Records of the Borough of Southmolton " : —
RECTORS, PERPETUAL CURATES, AND VICARS.
1277 — Thomas de Sueneysia. 1317 — Nicholas de Wedergrave. 1321 — Thomas Flemynge. 1354 — Hugh de Newehalle. 1361— Robert Corbet. 1366 — John Hacche. 1406-7 — William Peion. 1410— John Park. 1429— Edmond Lacy. 1440 — John Camallon. 1458 — William Attingham. 1504-John Clark. 1510— Richard Follet.
1536 — Thomas Marshall.
1606 — Richard Sargent.
1629— John Coren.
1651 — Oliver Dunning.
1657 — James Kingswell.
1682— John Cruse.
1695 — Joshua Hole.
1746— John Elworthy.
1794 — William Toms.
1833 — Thomas Henry Maitland.
1876— Frederick King.
1902 — Frank Maxwell Wallington.
71
.natSa^
@rc6iton. Waris^ g^urc^ of t^e ^of^ gross.
HERE is a local rhyme in Crediton and round about which runs : —
" Kirdon was a market town When Exeter was a vuzzy* down." The history of the church certainly justifies Crediton's claim to a hoary antiquity, and it is traditionally said to have been the birth- place of the great missionary Winfred, or St. Boniface, the apostle of Central Germany, martyred in 756.
In 1645 Crediton was visited by the Parliamentary forces, under the command of Fairfax and Cromwell, camping in " The Lord's Meadow," as it was and is called. It is said that Cromwell, with other of the officers and men, heard a sermon in the church from Master Joshua Sprigge, Fairfax's chaplain. This must have been on the occasion of the march from Exeter to Torrington, by way of Crediton, for on the 16th February, 1645, they arrived at Torrington, meeting the Royalist forces there and defeating them.
Crediton now retains but few of its ancient buildings, for extensive fires occurred in 1743, and again in 1769.
hero, the late The church
Just outside the town is Downes, the seat of Devon's General Sir Redvers Buller.
stands on a fine open site in the centre of the town, and is a magnificent structure — in scale and plan bearing more resemblance to a small cathedral than to a country church. Of first-class workmanship throughout, and well proportioned in all its parts, it is of cruciform plan, and consists of a choir of five bays, with aisles and clerestory; an eastern Lady Chapel, nave of six bays with clerestory, aisles, north and south transepts, south porch with library over, central tower, and a large building south-east of the choir, containing the vestry and other rooms. The first church here was a Saxon one. There are remains of Roman encampments in the neighbourhood, and Roman coins and pottery have been discovered at various times ; hence it is believed that Crediton is of Roman origin. In the year 910 — a few years after Devon was created a separate diocese — Aidolf, the third Bishop, removed his scat from Bishops Tawton, near Barnstaple, to Crediton. Here it remained until removed to Exeter by Leofric in 1060 (Edward the Confessor). The church was then make collegiate, but all traces of it have been obliterated for centuries. Its site is believed to have been near the present churchyard.
The second church was built on the site of the present one, in the Transitional Norman period — date about 1160 — the proof of this being the fact that the lower
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CREDITON PARISH CHURCH.
73
to
give
additional
height to
portion of the existing great central tower is of that period, being the oldest part of the church. Alterations and enlargements took place during the Early English and Decorated periods, and then the building was allowed to fall into a ruinous condition. A pamphlet written by the former vicar — the late Rev. C. Felton Smith — gives some historical facts concerning the third or present church. It states that the former church having become very- dilapidated, gifts of money commenced to flow in towards its rebuilding ; and amongst others, in 1415 (Henry V.), Thomas Barton, Canon of Exeter and Rector of Ilfracombe, gave " £20 of gold " towards the construction of a new window in the church, and some of the smaller windows. But although many
gifts had been bestowed, nothing much was done until 1523 (Henry VIII.), when
Bishop Vesey peremptorily interfered, and ordered a rebuilding — except a few
portions — the operations extending up to about 1545, Thus the church, as it now
stands, is practically a sixteenth century building, in the Perpendicular style,
containing portions of Transitional Norman, Early English, Decorated and Modem
work.
The combined interior length of the nave and choir is 176 feet 3 inches ; the
width of the nave and aisles together being 48 feet 8 inches, and the width across
from end to end of transepts 84 feet 2 inches. The L,ady Chapel is 41 feet 6 inches
in length, the width at its western end being 22 feet 4 inches, and at the eastern
end 23 feet. Adding three feet for the thickness of
the wall between the choir and the Lady Chapel,
the combined interior length of the church and
Lady Chapel from end to end is no less than 220
feet 9 inches. On entering, one is struck by the
beauty of the walling. This is of local felspathic
trap — a rich, warm, red-coloured stone — no portion
being plastered, but the whole exposed to view, and
with no ornament except the lightly carved caps to
the pier shafts ; any decoration, fresco or mosaic
being rendered quite superfluous and unnecessary
with such natural tints as this church possesses.
The exterior of the building is also faced with
similar stone, fitting in well with the local colour- ing— for some of the richest red land in Devon is
found here and in the neighbourhood. The oldest
portion of the structure itself is the lower stage
of the tower, showing inside the church. This
is of the Transitional Norman period, with plain
piers and recessed pointed arches rising from carved
caps, some of which are sho>vn in figs. 2 and 3, and
a corbel in fig. 1.
The walling is of stone from quarries at Pos-
bury and Knole, both worked up to the present
time, in the parish of Crediton. The basin of
the font, however, is without doubt much older
than this part of the tower. It may be the basin of an old Saion font, used in the first or Saxon
Fio3
O^tiLOm
74
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
F1S.4.
church at Crediton, for the design is much too simple and too liglatly sunk for Norman work. (Fig. 6.) Each side measures 2 feet 4 inches at the top, the depth being one foot, and the material appears to be a fine grained grey granite — probably from Dartmoor. The stem and pillars are modern stone ones. The upper portion of the tower is embattled, and has an octagonal embattled turret at each angle, with crocketted spirelets and vanes, and contains a clock and eight bells. The Lady Chapel, and the building to the south-east of the choir con- taining the vestry and other rooms, come next to the lower stage of the tower in jioint of age. The Lady Chapel is of Early Decorated date, about 1310 (Edward II-III.), as can be seen by the mouldings of
the caps and bases of the piers of its archways opening into the north and south aisles. These mouldings — figs. 4 and 5 — are in pure Decorated style — a feature not to be found in many of the Devonian churches. The Chapel is quite plain in character, the walling being left unplastered, and there are four windows filled in with tracery in the Perpendicular style. The Chapel was used as the Grammar School of Crediton from the time when the school was established by Edward VI. until the year 1860, when new schools were built in the town. At that time it was so dilapi- dated that the east wall had to be taken down to the ground level and rebuilt. At the junction of the sixteenth century south aisle of the choir with the wall of the Lady Chapel, it is curious to note how the wall has been cut back so as to obtain room for the east window. The Chapel was probably used as such in connection with the old church, for it could not have been the chancel, seeing that the tower has always evidently been a central one, and therefore the general plan of the old church must have been similar to that of the present one.
The building to the south-east of the choir is considered to have been the old Chapter House, and probably took up the two lower stages. It is of the same period as the Lady Chapel, its walling being of the same character, and, further, there is a Decorated recess (fig. 7) in the wall, on the left-hand side of its west entrance. In the ciU of this recess are two circular sinkings or basins, and so it may have been a double holy-water stoup. The building is now divided into three storeys, containing a vestry and large vestibule on the ground floor ; on the first floor two rooms, one of which is used as a choir vestry ; and on the top floor a large room used for the meetings of the Governors of the church, and which at one time was a Priest's Chamber. In the room are some curious old chests, and also pieces of old armour.
To proceed with the description of the church itself, apart from these older portions. The nave is of six bays and the choir of five baj^s, both having lofty clerestoreys. The piers and arches of the arcades are moulded with fine eftect in the hard red stone from Thorverton, near Crediton ; the piers ha\ang shafts at both the angles, finished with Beer stone carved caps, the arcading being unusually massive for the period, and of fine pro- portion and great dignity. The wall shafts in the nave, carrying the roof trusses, rise from the string course over the arches ; but in the choir they rise from the pier cajis. The most interesting and per- haps most beautiful feature of the church, is the old
.rise
■^d^
CREDITON PARISH CHURCH.
76
C/Yd^^
stone sedilia or clergy stalls in the choir. It is in three seats or compartments. Some of the decorative panelling on it is of the Perpendicular period, showing none later than this, so that the sedilia must be a relic from the old church, and of date about 1400 (HenrylV.-V.), and refixed in its present position when the sixteenth century rebuilding took place. At the back, facing the south aisle of the choir, is a canopied recess enclosing a flat table monument or tomb, supposed to have been that of a Dean of the church. The cornice of the canopy has numerous carved figures in a mutilated conditon ; in fact the whole of the sedilia has been very much defaced, but sufficient of it is left to show that it was of extreme beauty. The three stalls are semi- circular in plan, with groined canopies, all being ornamented with Decorated and Perpendicular tracery of very refined work and design, the canopies showing traces of carved bosses, and there are distinct remains of the colouring — of a red tint.
Resting on the floor, on the north side of the altar, are two very imposing and lofty seventeenth century monuments in alabaster and coloured marbles. One is to Sir William Periam, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1592 (Elizabeth), who died in 1605, at the age of 70. He lived at Fulford — now Shobrooke Park, in the parish of Shobrooke, adjoining Crediton ; was an ardent Puritan, and sat as one of the judges at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay. The other monument is to one of the Tuckfields, who came into possession after the death of Periam. A very old monument, and one of great interest, is situated at the east end of the south aisle of the choir. It is of stone, consistmg of two recumbent effigies of a knight in plate armour and a lady. These figures are believed to represent Sir John Sully and his wife, whose bodies were buried in the church. Sir John owned the Manor of Iddesleigh, which afterwards became the property of the Northcote family, and supplied a title for the late earl. He was Baron of Torrington, and died in 1387 (Richard II.) at his house at Iddesleigh, at the age of 105. He fought at Halidon Hill, at the siege of Berwick, 1333, in the reign of Edward III.
In 1547, Edward VI. vested the church and some lands by deed to twelve of the principal inhabitants, incorporated as the "Twelve Governors of the church of Crediton," and by whose successors the church is still kept in repair out of the tithes. During the 40 years — 1847 to 1887 — they restored the building.
The walls had been whitewashed several times, but this was cleaned off about the year 1857, and the roofs of the nave, choir, and aisles, which were originally of oak, had been plastered and white- washed ; but the Governors, during the restoration, had them removed, and new open oak roofs in fifteenth century style, carved in various parts, were substituted. Chancel Miserare oak stalls, with carved tracery and poppy-heads, were also erected.
The seating of the body of the church is modern, in oak, with traceried ends, and there is a fine oak eagle-lectem. The choristers are
76 NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
placed under the lower stage of the tower, as much of the sound would be inter- cepted by the massive Norman masonry if they were placed in the choir. The pulpit is a modern stone one, with canopied niches bearing carved figures. There is a very beautiful old oak chest resting on the floor at the east end of the north aisle of the choir. It measures 5 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet 1 inch wide, and 3 feet 2 inches high. It is panelled in carved work in the design of window tracery, with ogee arches ornamented with very vigorously carved crockets of large size ; the spandrels filling up the top parts of the panels above the arches being again carved with tracery. The base is also carved in undulating open-tracery work, and rests on a plinth, the upper member of which is carved ; and a part of the front central panel has a carved group representing the infant Christ in the manger, and the distribu- tion of the gifts, surmounted by an overhanging open-traceried canopy. The design and detail of this chest stamp it as being foreign. It is in the Flamboyant style — rather late in the style — possibly seventeenth century, as there is a slight touch of Renaissance work about it — the plinth having a carved member which in classic architecture would be a " beaded astragal," and one or two other parts show the same spirit. The lock-plate is of very elaborate design, (see fig. 8).
The windows on the north and south side of the church, from the west end of the nave to the extreme east end of the choir aisles, have stone seats m the thickness of the walls, and these were probably the only seats for the parishioners at one time. The great east and west windows are magnificent eight-light Perpen- dicular windows, filled with stained glass, in figure subjects ; and there are also several other stained windows in the church and Lady Chapel. The south transept and the ends of the north and south aisles of the choir, retain old piscinae of plain arched design, and therefore these parts of the church were no doubt formerly used as chapels.
Over the south porch is a library, with many valuable old books, and three old chained bibles on a sloping stand. The stand is 6 feet 6 inches long and 4 feet high, and the crumpled condition of the leaves of the bibles show them to have been very much used. The church is well placed, standing out unobstructed on all sides, with a background of trees throwing out the red walling to perfection. The long level line of embattled parapet adds to the apparent length of the building, and causes the central tower to stand out with great effect.
A list of early incumbents is not obtainable from the church, but the later ones
are here given.
VICARS.
Oct., 1583-95 — Peter Duncan (then moved to Kenn). 1742 — John Stacey.
1759— Samuel Hart. No records untU 1793- John Rudall.
1689 — Thomas Ley. 1835 — Samuel Rowe.
1721 — Robert Ham. 1854 — Charles Felton Smith.
1731 — John Carwithen. June, 1901 — Walter M. Smith-Dorrien.
77
^axi$^ §^uxc^ of §t Wetex,
HE village of Berrynarbor lies midway between Ilfracombe and Combe Martin, along the coast road running for five miles through scenery which, for variety of form and vivid colouring, is not to be surpassed in Devon. Situated at the head of a wooded valley, the village is built on high ground, about a mile inland from 'V\''atermouth Castle — a modem mansion embowered in trees, which overlooks a wonderfully beautiful little land-locked harbour.
Berrynarbor is a corrupt combination of the names of its former lords, the De Perrj's and Herberts, and the parish is famous as being the birth-place of John Jewell, D.D., Bishop of Salisbury, 1559-71, who was born at Bowden farmhouse on May 24th, 1522, and died at Monkton Farley, Wilts, 21st September, 1571.
The church is built on a site at the top of the steep village street, and is worthy of its surroundings. It could hardly have been better placed, and its tower when used for beacon purposes must have served well, as it overlooks a wide area, and northwards also commands the sea to some extent. The church consists of a nave and south aisle, chancel, vestry, south porch and grand western tower. The interior length, from the west end of nave to the east end of chancel, is 74 feet 11 inches ; and'the combined width of nave and aisle is 33 feet 10 inches — being 4 feet 10 inches longer, but 5 inches narrower than Combe Martin church. The church was repaired in 1862, and further in 1880, and the chancel was restored in 1889. In 1887— the 50th year of Queen Victoria's reign — the roofs, tower, and belfry were restored, and new oak tower and vestry screens erected, entirely at the expense of Mrs. Basset, of Watermouth Castle, lady of the manor. There are sittings for 300 persons. On examining the structure there is evidence to show that a Norman church stood on the site or a part of it, and that later on this was replaced by an Early English building. Then in the Late Perpendicular period — probably about 1483 (Edward IV. -V.), and later on in the Early 16th century or Tudor period, the Early English church was almost entirely demolished and rebuilt. The Norman work in the existing church consists of the vestry arch and the stem of the font ; the Early English work being the walls of the chancel — shown by the hatched lines on the sketch plan, and probably built about the year 1220 (Henry III.). These walls are of considerable thickness, built in local rubble stone exposed to view — the colour effect being very pleasing. There are two lancet windows in the north wall, and one in the south, deeply splayed internally. The rubble-stone arches above the lancets are very skilfully built. The east window is a modern three-light one in the Decorated style. There is a set-back in the north wall just by the pulpit, and also
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BEREYNAEBOR PARISH CHURCH.
79
in the south wall where the arcading starts, which show that when the 15th century builders took the church in hand, they widened the nave to the eitent of these set-backs (see sketch plan), where it will be noticed that the nave arcading is built clear of the south wall of the chancel, and that the north wall of the nave breaks back from that of the chancel. The vestry was probably originally a 15th century chantry chapel, or a transept ; and the Norman arch (fig. 1) is probably a relic of Norman work contained in the Early English church, taken from its former position at the time of rebuilding, and rebuilt in its present position. Its thickness of 2 feet 4 inches shows that it must
have been an arch within the previous build- ing (probably forming a part of the arcading) and not formed in an
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outer wall as it now stands ; for if that had been the case, then for Norman work it would have been much thicker. Consequently the position it now occupies cannot be its origind one, for the thickness of the present north wall of the church is not sufficient to establish the fact that it (the wall) can be of Norman date. The arch is of characteristic Norman workmanship, built with squared and dressed local red sandstone, such as is found at Combe Martin, about three miles away, and with impost mouldings of Norman section.
The general design and detail of the tower, and especially the mouldings of its ground storey arch and its western doorway, show that it is of Late Perpendicular date— about 1483 (Edward IV.-V.)— and would no doubt have been the first work taken in hand when the rebuilding took place, and after that would have followed the nave and its south aisle, the transept (now the vestry) and the porch. To describe the tower in detail — it is 96 feet in height, and of three stages ; the peal of six bells being rung from the ground floor, the ropes passing through a handsome wrought-iron guide frame, placed a few feet below the floor of the second stage. The belfry stage has a two-light louvre opening on each side, all of the same design, and the stage below has a large canopied niche in each wall, and a clock on the south. The entrance door- way has boldly moulded jambs and arch, with carved conventional Perpendicular patera) at intervals, and the label mould is finished with carved heads as stops. The large window over the doorway has an exceptionally well constructed inner
80
NORTH DEVON CHURCHES.
Fig. 2
Serrjfiartor
arch, the voussoirs or arch stones being each about 3 inches in thickness, and the keystone of about the same thickness, in freestone. This arch is perhaps the finest interior feature of the church, and it contrasts well with the plain moulded free-stone ground-storey arch. The tower is finished with an embattled parapet, having crocketted pinnacles at each angle overhanging on corbels — a very uncommon treatment, and one which gives this tower an air of distinction apart from others.
The angle buttresses are finished at the top with crocketted pinnacles — another unusual and beautiful arrangement. The pinnacles finish a little above the parapet, into which they are built. They balance in a very artistic manner the efi'ect of the overhanging angle pinnacles, tieing them back as it
were, and giv- ing the idea of strength. The parapet is lightly built, about 9 inches in thickness, and is pierced with quatre-foils ; and the gablets at the foot of the crockets of the angle pinnacles are finished with little carved heads. The carving of the pinnacles is of rich design, and some grotesque animal carving is found just below the parapet — that on the south-east corner being two dogs confronting each other in a very aggressive way. Architecturally the finest side of the tower is the north one, where the staircase occurs (see sketch). The vertical lines of the staircase, in the form of a slightly projecting square tower, show out to good effect against the richer parts of the north and east sides of the main tower.
The arcading of the nave is in four bays, with Beer stone moulded piers and arches, and carved caps to each pier. The character of this workjwhich is rather coarse in detail — especially the carving — points to the fact that this arcading (and consequently the south aisle) was constructed rather later than the tower — probably about 1500-10 (Henry VII.-VIII.j, in the Early Tudor period. The best of the carving occurs in the canopied double-niche on the second pier from the east (fig. 3). A walled-up old doorway shows in the north wall (see sketch plan). The level of the churchyard is considerably above the bottom of the door- way, so that either a flight of steps must formerly have led up from the latter, or the churchyard must have been lower than now. This north entrance was probably blocked up
FIG. 3
Berrynartxir
BERKYNARBOR PARISH CHURCH.
81
when the south porch was built, as being no longer required. The porch has an old oak cradle roof, with carved bosses, apparently of Early 16th century date, therefore the aisle and porch may have been built at about the same time. The windows in the north and south walls of the church are of Perpendicular design, some having stained glass — the one at the extreme west end of the south wall being a memorial window, erected in 1883 to Miss Basset, of Watermouth Castle.
The tower screen is of oak, in Perpendiciilar style, in three bays, with carved cornice and spandrels ; and the vestry screen is also of oak, in Tudor style. The reredos is of plain design in stone, and the font is of stone — the basin being modem, in the Norman style, mounted on what appears to be an old Norman stem. There is a trefoiled shaped piscina in the south wall of the chancel of possible Late Early English date, and it bears traces of coloring.
The roofs of the nave, chancel and aisle are good examples of modem oak open- timbered cradle roofs, relieved with carved bosses. The overhanging south side of the chancel roof, caused by the set-back of the arcading from the line of the chancel south wall, has been cleverly contrived to rest on a large stone corbel over the second pier from the east.
The ancient monuments are not very numerous, but some are very interesting. On the north wall of the nave is one to " Richard Berrie, Lord of the Manor of Berrie Nerbert, died 1645" (Charles I.). It contains four kneeling figures, representing Berrie, his wife, son and daughter. Another, on the same wall, is in the Renaissance style, showing the kneeling figure of a man in prayer ; but the lettering on the inscription slab is quite gone. Judging from the style of the cos- tume— ^(Charles II.) — it may be a monument to a former rector — George Westcott, who held the living in the middle of the 17th century. A curious monumental slab on the north wall of the chancel is that to " E.C. — Rector 1725 " (George I.). It is to Edward Chichester, who was instituted to the living in 1716. On referring to the sketch (fig. 2) it will be seen that the rector's name is not at all prominent, and for brevity this inscription could hardly be beaten. A memorial slab is fixed on the south wall of the chancel to " Mary, only daughter of George Westcott, Pastor of the Church, and of Frances his wife, died 1648, aged 7." It bears the following poetical inscription : —
" This Mary — gold to here doth shew, MARIE, worth gold lies neer below. Cut downe by death the fair'st-gilt flowr,