Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Payhembury

Parish church dating from the 15th and early 16th centuries, thoroughly refurbished in 1889. The church is built of local stone rubble with Beerstone and volcanic ashlar dressings and detail, while Hamstone was used in the 19th century in the chancel. The roof is tiled.

The plan comprises a nave with a lower chancel, a north aisle of nearly full length, a 19th-century vestry positioned in the angle of the aisle and chancel, a west tower, and a south porch.

The unbuttressed west tower rises in two stages with an embattled parapet and carved gargoyles. A semi-hexagonal stair turret on the north side rises higher than the tower itself. The belfry contains square-headed windows with two lights topped by cinquefoil heads, and a small single light version to the ringing loft on the south side, below a 19th-century clockface. The west side features a two-centred arch doorway with a moulded surround enriched with fourleaf motifs.

Most windows around the church are replacement windows with Perpendicular tracery, except for two on the south side of the chancel which are of Hamstone and display a distinctive hybrid of Perpendicular styles. The gabled south porch projects from the middle of the nave. It has a two-centred outer arch with moulded surround enriched with four-leaf motifs and contains oak gates including grilles of turned rails; the porch is probably late 17th century. The wagon roof of the porch may date from the 15th century but has been restored. The south doorway features a Tudor arch with a carved foliage surround, and above it is a probably 19th-century niche containing a carved representation of the Virgin Mary. On the south side of the chancel is a curious priests' door with a square head and an arch-headed hoodmould. On the north side of the aisle, the break between the aisle and chapel is marked by a projecting rood stair turret, with a small doorway alongside leading into the chapel.

The interior is of high quality, though heavily refurbished in 1887. The boarded wagon roofs of the nave, chancel, and aisle date from this refurbishment and feature moulded ribs and purlins with carved and gilded bosses. The chancel roof and ceilure in the neighbouring section of the nave are more ornate, with crossbraces and crestwork around the panels and a carved openwork wall plate interrupted by carved angels playing instruments. This section is painted and gilded. The 19th-century chancel arch is a timber blind arcade of quatrefoils and mouchettes. The ringing loft of the tower has a 16th-century intersecting beam floor. The tall tower arch features a double-chamfered arch ring. The arcade comprises five bays including a wider arch overlapping the chancel, with moulded piers (Pevsner's type B), carved foliate capitals, and carved bosses set in the springing between the arches. The restored stoup by the south doorway retains its original basin. The rood stair is intact though the doorways are rebuilt. A 19th or 20th-century image niche stands alongside the rood stair doorway. The walls are plastered. The floor is flagged in the nave and aisle but has 19th-century tiles in the chancel, more ornate in the sanctuary where the symbols of the Evangelists are featured.

The rood screen is of good quality, though somewhat restored. It comprises ten bays including two doorways, with wainscotting featuring applied blind tracery, windows with slender Perpendicular tracery (Pevsner's type B), a coved canopy with Gothic ornamentation, and a frieze of three bands of delicately carved openwork foliage with crest and vallance. The parclose is a simpler late 19th-century copy.

Most of the furniture and fittings date from the late 19th century, though some pieces are 18th century. The east window is flanked by late 19th-century painted commandments within Gothic-style Beerstone frames. The timber reredos and altar table are contemporary. The oak altar rail, turned balusters, is 18th century. Late 19th-century oak stalls are Gothic in style with poppyhead finials and carved blind tracery to the bench ends and frontals. A reading desk in the chancel features a delicate high-quality canopy carved in Gothic style. The lectern and font cover are in the same style, with the latter dated 1897. All these pieces are the work of Fellowes Prynne of Exeter. The pulpit is 18th century: an octagonal drum pulpit with fielded panel sides and sounding board. Some benches are heavily restored 15th century, but most are late 19th-century copies; all feature carved tracery on the bench ends. The Beerstone font has an octagonal bowl with carved quatrefoils in the side and a panelled stem; it was retooled or newly made in the 19th century. The font cover is complete with 1897 lifting chain, pulley, and counterweights. A good 17th-century chest is housed in the tower.

Memorials include a very fine monument on the north side of the sanctuary in memory of Dorothy Gosill (died 1745) and her son Timothy (died 1746), who was vicar of the parish. It is a large white and black marble sarcophagus upon which are two carved cherubs holding medallions containing profiles of the deceased against a background of drapery. Other 19th-century memorials are of local interest only. In the tower is a painted charity board with a segmental arch head and frame of fluted pilasters with moulded entablature, dating from the 18th century and probably contemporary with the Royal Arms of George II over the south door. The church contains 19th-century stained glass, and the tracery of the north aisle contains 15th and 16th-century glass including some complete figures.