Chapel Of St Antony

This is a Chapel of Ease, built between 1867 and 1868. It was designed by Rhode Hawkins and funded by William Gibbs, on land donated by the daughters of Joseph Sheppard of Cowley House. The chapel is constructed from local grey limestone with sandstone dressings, and has slate roofs. It comprises a nave, a north porch, a chancel, a southeast vestry, and a single-bay alcove on the south side of the nave, with a bellcote above the chancel arch.

The west front features two tall, trefoil-headed lancet windows, each with a hood-mould and carved-head terminals. The east window has three broad, trefoil-headed lights set beneath an elaborate, six-lobed design; the north (road) side has paired or single trefoil-headed lancets, and the south side mirrors this treatment, including the lean-to vestry and nave alcove with paired and single lancets. The building is notable for being without buttresses, and having flush side windows. Unusual external features include a short column resembling a chimney pot on the west gable, and a bellcote with a steeply pitched, stone, pyramidal cap carved on four stubby shafts with foliated capitals, which extends down into the church interior.

Inside, the nave and chancel have an impressive roof with a wall-plate, exposed rafters with studs and braced collars set closely together, directly influenced by Butterfield's style. A shallow recess, under a double-chamfered arch, is located in the southeast corner of the nave. A stone pulpit, bowed out into the nave, is positioned between this recess and the south respond of the chancel arch, and is pierced with chunky, cinquefoil-headed arches, with access provided from the vestry through a plain, pointed arch. The fittings are mostly contemporary. The east window’s glass, also of the same date and part of a larger glazing scheme (partially removed), is of high quality, depicting Christ in Majesty in the central six-lobed design, with two Evangelists in the side lights; the central lights read 'Suffer Little Children'. Contemporary wrought-iron gates adorn the porch. The combination of roofs, alcove, pulpit, and chancel arch creates a design of considerable merit and individuality. Rhode Hawkins’s other surviving churches are limited to this building and St Michael’s, Exeter. The chapel occupies a prominent position high above the main Barnstaple road.