Church Of St Germanus

Church of St. Germanus

A parish church consecrated in 1259 by Bishop Walter de Bronescombe, probably built on earlier foundations. The building has been significantly enlarged and modified over the centuries, with major phases of development evident from the 13th century through to the 19th century.

The 13th-century work includes the spire and upper part of the tower, probably also the north wall of the chancel and the north transept. By 1321, when the church was rededicated, the south transept had been built. The late 15th century saw substantial enlargement in Perpendicular style, including the south aisle, south arcade, chancel east window, and north window of the north transept. The rood loft was extended across the south aisle at this time. The south windows of the south aisle may date to the late 15th or early 16th century. The church was restored in 1845 and again in 1885, when the roof was replaced with slate and a Norman tympanum was discovered and reset in the west wall of the south aisle.

The building is constructed of slatestone rubble with granite dressings, and is roofed with 19th-century slate with crested ridge tiles. The plan comprises a west tower, nave and chancel in one, a south aisle with south chapel, a north porch, a north transept, and a north vestry.

The unbuttressed tower is in one stage, with a long lancet bell-opening to each side fitted with slate louvres and relieving arch. The west side has a lower trefoil-headed lancet. The broach spire above features gabled lancets and a weathervane.

The nave and chancel are in one, with raised coped verges in rubble to the gable end and cross finial. At the west end of the nave is a north window with pointed arch, two lights with cusped lancets, Y-tracery, and hood mould. The chancel has a north lancet to the east of the transept and a Perpendicular east window with four-centred arched head, trefoil heads to the lights, upper tracery, and hood mould. A straight joint marks the junction with the chapel to the south.

The south aisle and south chapel are in one. The south side has two windows to the aisle and one to the chapel, all of three lights with two-centred arched hollow-chamfered lights and hood mould over flat head. The second bay from the left has a segmental-headed door with hollow-chamfered and step-stopped surround and 19th-century double doors. A projecting rood stair with pitched roof stands at the junction between the aisle and chapel, with a blocked segmental-headed door to the right of the stair. The west end of the aisle has no windows and has a straight joint to the nave. The east end of the chapel has a three-light window matching the chancel, with stone raised coped verges and cross finial to the gable end.

The small gabled north porch has a segmental-headed outer opening and appears to be a 19th-century rebuilding. It contains a 19th-century scissors truss roof and a tall pointed arched inner doorway with a 19th-century door fitted with reused strap hinges.

The north transept has rubble coped verges and cross finial. A three-light window to the north matches the chancel east end. The east window is a triple lancet with interesting tracery beneath a pointed arch and relieving arch.

The gabled north vestry has rubble verges, a gable end stack in brick, and a single chamfered light to the east.

Interior

The tower has a pointed arched plain granite doorway to the nave, with a tall pointed rubble arch above. The nave and north transept are roofed in one, with a 19th-century wagon roof of nine bays to the nave, continuous to the chancel, featuring moulded ribs and bosses. A wide bay with diagonal ribs marks the meeting between transept and nave. The nave has a chamfered rere-arch to the north window. Above the pier between the chancel and the south chapel is a passage opening for the rood loft, with a socket for a beam to the north. The chancel contains a trefoil-headed piscina in the south wall, a pointed arched chamfered door to the north vestry, and a former external window to the right of this door, a lancet with a triangular rere-arch.

A five-bay arcade separates the nave and chancel from the south aisle and chapel. The piers have a shaft at each corner and convex moulding between, with four-centred arches of two chamfered orders, largely restored. The south aisle and chapel have a continuous 15th-century roof—an eleven-bay wagon roof with carved wall-plate bearing angels (now missing) at the base of the ribs, carved ribs with bosses (some missing), one row of purlins, and a ridge purlin. The aisle has a door and upper opening to the rood stair. The Norman tympanum reset on the west wall is decorated with three circles containing a four-spoked wheel, four-petalled flower, and saltire cross motifs. The chapel has a trefoil-headed piscina in the south wall. The north transept has a squint to the chancel and a trefoil-headed piscina in the east wall.

Fittings

The nave contains a 14th-century octagonal font set on a round stone base, possibly of Norman origin. Five pews with carved bench ends are located in the south aisle and one in the nave, all of late 15th or early 16th-century date with carved bench ends in tracery patterns. A late 19th-century panelled organ loft occupies the west end of the nave.

In the south chapel stands a pillar supporting an almsbox dated 1633, fluted with a cable-moulded ring and plain capital; two balusters of similar design form part of the altar rail. An early 19th-century hatchment in the nave records benefactions. A screen by Herbert Read of Exeter dates to circa 1930.

17th-century ledger stones are present in the nave and south aisle. The north transept contains a monument with a slate inscription panel in bolection-moulded surround, cornice, and steep pediment over with shield and three roundels in the tympanum and skull at apex, commemorating Mary Ashton 1664 and other family members. A second monument on a plinth with acanthus corbels features a central head of a cherub with wings, a central black oval cartouche with cherub to top and skull with crossed bones below, wreath of bay leaves, and Corinthian columns to the sides with frieze and entablature, commemorating Roger Ashton 1677.

In the south chapel, an oval marble tablet on slate ground commemorates Stephen Edwards 1797. A Baroque monument on a plinth with corbels and scrolled apron features a rectangular inscription panel with Ionic columns to left and right, a frieze with grotesque mask over each column and central cherub, and a cornice broken forward to the sides with central shield and helm and shields to the sides at top, commemorating John Battersby 1672.

The glazing is 19th-century lattice throughout except for the chancel east window, which contains 19th-century stained glass in memory of Parson Key, and the transept east window, which contains stained glass of 1917.