Church Of St Giles And St Peter

The Church of St Giles and St Peter, Sidbury, is a medieval church of exceptional architectural and historical significance, displaying Norman work, Transitional arcades, 13th-century transepts, and 15th-century features. The building underwent restoration in 1843 by John Hayward, further work by Micklethwaite and Somers Clarke in 1884-5, and chancel restoration by Micklethwaite in 1898-9.

The church is constructed of limestone rubble and ashlar with limestone dressings, slate roofs, and a shingled spire.

The plan comprises a nave, chancel, west steeple, north and south aisles, south porch, north and south transepts, and north vestry.

Exterior

The church is an imposing building at the centre of the village, surrounded by a churchyard, and displays work from various periods. At the west end stands a large and important Norman tower of three stages with very shallow pilaster buttresses at the corners. The south face has a later polygonal embattled stair turret rising nearly to the top of the second stage. The ground storey features a pointed west doorway with a three-light Perpendicular window above. The second stage has pairs of small Norman windows; those on the west face contain two full-length standing bas-relief figures of a bishop and a saint, discovered in 1843 and probably dating from the 12th century. The belfry stage has pairs of two-light openings separated by flat pilasters. These belfry windows have round-arched lights with shafts between (the east face has a single-light opening). The embattled parapets and eight pinnacles date from 1884-5, as does the slender recessed shingled spire.

The south elevation presents a two-storey embattled south porch in the second bay from the west, the gable of the south transept, and the Norman chancel. The porch has a plain outer doorway and diagonal buttresses, with a sundial in the second stage. A stoup is cut into the wall east of the entrance, and two table tombs abut its south walling. Inside, the porch is stone vaulted between its two stages with a large carved boss in the centre. An embattled polygonal stair turret is placed in the angle of the aisle and west face of the porch. The aisle has three three-light Perpendicular-style panel tracery windows (with 19th-century tracery). A similar, taller window is located in the south face of the transept. The east face of the south transept has a three-light grouped and graded lancet window. A fragment of Saxon interlace, perhaps from the 10th century, is built into the exterior of the south transept west wall.

The Norman chancel is faced with ashlar blocks and has a corbel table of grotesque heads at eaves level. It features a small round-headed single-light window on both north and south elevations. On the south side there is also a two-light Geometrical window at the west, a plain priest's door, and a two-light Perpendicular window towards the east set above an empty tomb recess. The east window is of three lights with 19th-century panelled Perpendicular tracery. Below it is a highly unusual area of Norman chequerwork decoration cut into it in situ. On the north of the chancel is a vestry under a catslide roof with a series of reused Norman heads in the corbel table. There is a two-light Geometrical window corresponding to that on the south. The east window of the transept also corresponds to that on the south, and a similar window is found in the north wall. The aisle north wall has three three-light panel-tracery windows (tracery 19th-century).

Interior

The walls are plastered and whitened. There is Transitional work in the chancel arch and three-bay arcades. The south arcade, dating from around 1200, features large round piers, octagonal capitals, and double-chamfered pointed arches. The north arcade is similar but perhaps slightly later. One of the north piers has been replaced by a Perpendicular one with four shafts and four hollows. Further single arches lead to the transepts with engaged shafts. The arches from the aisles to the transepts have ornate decorative work of the Perpendicular period, with soffits carved with a foliage trail. The wagon roofs over the nave, aisles, and transepts also have decorative enrichment creating a similar effect but with different detailing.

In the tower there are large unmoulded diagonal vaulting ribs resting on four early 12th-century carved corbels featuring two lion masks, a lion, and a crouching Atlantean figure. Between the transepts and the chancel are pairs of squints. Many fragmentary remains of wall paintings survive. Those on the north side of the chancel show painted columns with stiff leaf capitals, and there is another similar piece, much worn, in the north transept. Over the tower arch is what may be a St Christopher. In the gable over the chancel arch is a 16th-century vine-trail.

Beneath the chancel, approached via a trap door, is a crypt measuring 2.82 metres east-west and 3.2 metres north-south. This appears to be pre-Conquest, having been filled in when the Norman chancel was built. The walling is plain, stands to approximately 0.9 metres, and is of chert with quoins of Beer stone.

Principal Fixtures

The barley-sugar altar rails are Jacobean. The octagonal font, decorated on its bowl with quatrefoils and panelling on its base, is Perpendicular; its plain cover of ogee shape is Jacobean. At the west end of the nave survives the gallery, dating from 1620 but altered in 1754. There is a good set of chancel fittings designed by Walter Cave, whose family lived at Sidbury Manor: the stalls are of 1899 and have small inset gesso panels. The altar is also of 1899, and behind is a reredos of 1904 with gesso panels and a depiction of the Crucifixion. In the southwest of the church is an attractive alms box and panelling behind with gesso panels of 1899, again by Cave. At the west end of the south aisle are four 17th-century charity boards. The nave seats are attractive, well-made square-ended benches of oak. There is stained glass of 1899, 1902, and 1906 by Kempe. The east window is of 1913 and was designed by Cave.

Setting

West of the southerly churchyard gates and built into the churchyard wall is a fountain and drinking trough of 1887 under a gabled head, commemorating Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

History

The structural history of the church appears to be traceable for a thousand years. The small crypt under the chancel is thought to be Saxon and probably represents a relic chamber. There is important and extensive Norman work suggesting the church had attained its present length in the 12th century. The transepts appear to be of the 13th century, while there is a late medieval imprint too, as is usual in this area. Post-Reformation activity can be traced through the west gallery and font cover. Much restoration took place in the 19th century. In 1843 John Hayward was responsible for rebuilding the upper part of the tower and placing a pyramid spire on it. This was removed and the top of the tower altered during the 1880s restoration by J T Micklethwaite and Somers Clarke. Micklethwaite also worked on the chancel at the end of the 1890s, at around which time Walter Cave was responsible for some highly attractive furnishings.

John Hayward (1808-91) was a leading church architect in Devon in the mid-19th century, with his practice based in High Street, Exeter. He also designed the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter, built in 1865-6. John Thomas Micklethwaite (1843-1906) became a pupil of G G Scott in 1862 and commenced independent practice in 1869. He was partner with Somers Clarke (1841-1926) from 1876 to 1892. He was an expert ecclesiologist, a learned antiquary, and a strong High Churchman. Important books by him include Modern Parish Churches of 1874 and The Ornaments of the Rubric of 1901. He is buried at Westminster Abbey. Walter Frederick Cave (1863-1939) was educated at Eton and was articled to A W Blomfield in 1884. He commenced practice in Westminster in 1888.