Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Brixham

This parish church probably dates from the 15th century and was restored between 1864 and 1866 by E Ashworth of Exeter. It is constructed of squared Devonian limestone rubble with red sandstone quoins; the west wall and tower are rendered. The windows are mostly in Bath stone and the doorways in red sandstone. The roof is slated with red ridge-tiles crested with fleurs-de-lys. A stone chimney stands on the north-east corner of the north chancel chapel.

The building comprises a nave, north and south aisles, chancel, north and south chancel chapels, a west tower, and a south porch. A vestry was added at the east end of the north chancel chapel in 1864 and 1866.

The church displays five Perpendicular four-light windows in each of the north and south walls, with different designs featuring both pointed and four-centred arches. The chancel has a five-light east window and the aisles have four-light windows, all Perpendicular with pointed arches. All windows are 19th-century restorations.

The south porch is gabled with a parvise chamber above. Both inner and outer doorways are chamfered and stopped with rounded arches. To the right of the outer door is a round-arched holy water stoup. The parvise chamber contains a single-light window with a pointed arch; the jambs are probably of old Beer stone with a restored head. Above it is medieval carving of the Crucifixion flanked by the Two Marys, with a cinquefoiled canopy over the whole group. Low stone seats sit inside the porch.

A priest's door in the south wall of the aisle and chancel chapel features a pointed arch and hoodmould. A five-sided stair turret for the former rood screen is located in the north wall with a slit window and battlements.

The three-stage tower has diagonal buttresses. The lowest stage contains a restored three-light window with a traceried pointed arch. The two upper stages each have single-light pointed windows on the north, south and west sides, mostly restored although the north and west windows in the lower stage appear to be of old Beer stone. The tower has never had a west door, probably owing to its proximity to the manor house, Churston Court. However, a blocked doorway with a round arch is visible on the interior wall at the west end of the south aisle.

Interior: The aisles and chancel chapels run into one another, with five pointed arches on each side; one arch is carved with arms of the Yarde family and another with mythical beasts. A stone staircase to the former rood loft is in the north wall. A 19th-century carved Gothic piscina is in the south wall of the chancel. A quatrefoiled squint connects the parvise chamber to the south aisle.

Waggon-roofs run throughout the building; all were renewed in red deal during 1864 and 1866.

The church contains several notable fittings. Remains of a medieval rood-screen have been reset under the tower arch. The stone font has an octagonal medieval base decorated with trefoil-headed panels and a bowl of around 1763 in Gothic style, with an early 17th-century ogee font cover. A late 17th-century six-sided pulpit features raised bolection-moulded panels. Late medieval bench ends with arms of Ferrers are reset in the chancel. Above the south door is a wooden panel with arms of Queen Anne, in original paint and dated 1713.

The east window of the south chancel chapel contains reset medieval glass.

The church has four bells. Three date from before 1553, with the oldest from around 1440 by Richard Norton of Exeter, bearing arms of Ferrers. A fourth bell was made by Mordecai Cockey of Totnes in 1681.

A notable monument in the south aisle commemorates William Farquharson (died 1813), a retired civil servant of the East India Company, featuring white marble with a mourning female figure and urn under a Gothic arch.

From the Middle Ages until 1951 Churston church was a chapel of St Mary's in Higher Brixham. White's directory of 1850 describes it as a perpetual curacy. It had its own churchwardens in the 17th century, and in 1953 was described by the Archdeacon of Totnes as a 'parish by tradition'.