Nearly all the old churches of Devon were rebuilt or enlarged in the 15th century. The inspiration behind Exeter Cathedral, with its square Norman towers and beautiful nave and choir, rebuilt in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and behind that miniature cathedral, the collegiate church of Ottery St Mary, did not survive into the 15th-century prosperity of country parishes, for it was monastic in origin. The 15th-century Devon churches have the low West Country proportions of Exeter Cathedral and Ottery, but they are much of a pattern. The towers, though often graceful, have less variety than those of Somerset.
Devonians seem to have been primarily carvers of wood and stone, and only secondarily architects. Almost every old church has remains of wooden screens or pulpits or benches. Painting seems to have interested them less than carving, and screen-painting is not as impressive as that of East Anglia. The county was conservative and Catholic, and in 1549 the Prayer Book Rebellion, a gallant attempt to reinstate the old missal after the Reformation, started at St Andrew’s Church in Sampford Courtenay. Love of the old ways probably accounts for the survival of screens in so many churches, and even the building of them as late as the 18th century, as at Cruwys Morchard. But it does not account for the disappearance of almost all old stained glass in the county.
In the 19th century, Devon was High Church under the autocratic reign of the great Bishop Philpotts, ‘Henry of Exeter’. It is not surprising, therefore, to find work of the London Tractarian architects, Street and Butterfield, and the talented local church architect, F. Hayward, building new churches and making good use of the various marbles available in the county. Plymouth remained what it had long been, Puritan and iconoclastic.
Devon is different from the rest of Britain. It is brighter-coloured, more West Country than Somerset, where one still feels the pull of Bristol, and less Celtic than sea-swept Cornwall. Exeter is not only its county and cathedral town – vilely developed of recent years on its outskirts, and in the centre – but it is the capital of a country, the country of Devon, and the mother city of the ancient Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia.
ASHCOMBE † St Nectan
8m/13km S. of Exeter
OS SX912795 GPS 50.6056N, 3.5386W
At the head of the long combe of Dawlish Water stands this originally small 13th-century cruciform church – traces seen in the tower, S. transept and chancel. In the 15th century the Kirkhams enlarged the N. transept into an aisle. Salvin’s renovation of 1824–5 removed much of its medieval character, including the rood screen, though the carved 15th-century bench-ends remain. It is now light, charming, and Gothic, with delicate plaster panelling and colouring everywhere. The adjacent vicarage is of the same happy period.
ASHTON † St John the Baptist
5m/8km S.W. of Exeter
OS SX856846 GPS 50.6506N, 3.6194W
A singularly attractive church in every way and worth going 50 miles to see. It lies on the luxuriant W. slopes of Haldon, where they cascade down to the Teign Valley. Entirely rebuilt and refurnished between about 1400 and 1485, Ashton is the ‘typical’ Devonshire church at its best and unrestored, although late 19th-century work replaced parts of the building. The plastered walls and white Beer-stone arcade set off the rich colouring of the medieval screens, glass and wall-paintings. The lavish carved woodwork so characteristic of Devon churches is here in abundance. The 15th-century rood screen and parclose screens have some of the best figure-paintings in Devon, especially those on the N. parclose screen and on back of the aisle screen. Carved bench-ends, heraldic glass and wall-painting are all of same period. There is an Elizabethan pulpit with canopy, 17th-century communion rails and a wooden monument to Sir George Chudleigh, 1657, who lived nearby. Note also the original 15th-century S. door and wagon roofs. The groined canopy of the rood screen, added in 1908, alone mars the scene.
ATHERINGTON † St Mary
7m/11km S. of Barnstaple
OS SS591231 GPS 50.9902N, 4.0087W
Located on a hilltop in the village, the fabric is not exciting structurally, mostly plain Devon Perpendicular over-restored by Pearson, 1884. It is notable, however, for its screens, original wagon roofs and fine series of 15th-century carved and crocketed bench-ends. The N. aisle screen, all that remains of a screen that once spanned the N. aisle and chancel, supports a fine rich original rood loft, the only one left in Devon, the work of John Parres, c. 1530. The chancel section of the screen was replaced c. 1800 by an inferior and earlier type from Umberleigh Chapel nearby. There is an altar tomb to Sir John Bassett and his two wives, as well as 13th- and 14th-century effigies.
BABBACOMBE † All Saints
Adjoins Torquay to N.
OS SX924652 GPS 50.4774N, 3.5167W
This is a fine example of a Butterfield Gothic Revival church, 1868–74, incorporating polychromatic Devon marbles, notably in the pulpit, font and chancel floor. The mosaics behind the high altar are by A. Salviati.
BERE FERRERS † St Andrew
7m/11km S. of Tavistock
OS SX459634 GPS 50.4503N, 4.1714W
Mostly rebuilt about 1300–30, St Andrew’s is unusual for Devon in retaining so much 14th-century work. Note the early 14th-century glass in the E. window, with interesting and varied tracery – Reticulated, Perpendicular and Intersecting. There are also early 16th-century benches, with Ferrers heraldry carved on one, and the tombs of the Ferrers, who built the church and lived in the medieval house nearby. The handsome table-tomb in the N. transept is that of Lord Willoughby de Broke, 1522. The lovely estuary of the River Tavy should be seen here.
ASHTON: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – Devon through and through, with rustic plastered walls, sublime wood carving on the screens and good quality panel-painting too
BRANSCOMBE † St Winifred
5m/8km E. of Sidmouth
OS SY195884 GPS 50.6902N, 3.1403W
A delightful place sited in a combe about a mile back from the sea in a long, narrow village, this church is important for the antiquary, as it shows a process of continuous development from the 11th century to the 16th, though the dominant features are the crossing tower, mostly Norman, the 13th-century work in transepts and nave, and the 14th-century chancel. The woodwork is worth studying, especially the Elizabethan W. gallery, the communion rails enclosing the table on four sides, the excellent three-decker pulpit – rare in Devon – and the box pews in the N. transept. There are monuments to the Wadhams and other local gentry.
ASHTON: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – the figure painting on the screens shows a deftness of touch and an expressive quality
BRAUNTON † St Brannock