Church Of St Winifred

Church of St Winifred

A parish church of exceptional architectural importance, showing continuous development from possibly Saxon origins through to the early 17th century. The church was carefully restored according to SPAB principles around 1911. It is built of local Salcombe stone rubble, neatly laid to courses and nearly ashlar in places, with Beerstone detail and a slate roof.

The church has an unusual cruciform plan with a large central tower. The tower's base may be Saxon, while the main fabric of the tower dates to the early 12th century, as does most of the nave. Mid-13th-century transepts were added west of the tower, and the nave was lengthened at the same time. The chancel was rebuilt in the early 14th century with Decorated windows. The east window was replaced during the time of Bishop Neville of Exeter (1458-64), when the whole church was apparently refurbished. The top of the tower and south porch also date from this period. The west end was refurbished in the early 17th century with a west gallery accessed by an external flight of stone steps. The church thus displays Saxon, Norman, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles.

Exterior features include herringbone chiselling at the base of the tower, thought by some to be Saxon. On the south side is a blocked doorway with monolithic jambs and head. The tower has three stages with a semi-circular stair projecting to the north, a 15th-century parapet resting on a Norman corbel table of carved heads, and belfry windows comprising tall round-headed lancets. The lower stage on the south side has a 2-light window with Decorated tracery. The nave also has a Norman corbel table of carved grotesque heads, with the 14th-century extension continuing with shaped corbels. The north side of the nave is blind, while the south side includes a 13th-century lancet and a 3-light window with Perpendicular tracery. To the left is the gabled south porch with a segmental outer arch. Behind it, the south doorway is a 2-centred arch with chamfered surround, containing a 17th-century 2-panel door complete with original ferramenta and oak lock housing. To the left of this a flight of stone steps leads up to the gallery, entered by a Tudor arch doorway. The west end contains a 2-centred arch doorway with moulded surround and hoodmould below a restored 3-light window with Decorated tracery. The north transept still has an original lancet, while the south transept has a 14th-century 2-light window with Decorated tracery; the doorway below is dated 1911, and blocked embrasures of more lancets are revealed inside. The chancel has set-back buttresses, with two 2-light windows on each side displaying original Decorated tracery. The western ones have shuttered shoulder-headed openings below, now glazed, supposedly for ringing a handbell from at Communion. The east window is a large 5-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould, dated by the arms of Bishop Neville on the label stops. The south-east buttress of the chancel forms the gnomon of an unusual sundial, which casts a shadow only until midday on the wall, with hours marked by Roman numerals.

Interior: The nave has a 15th-century open wagon roof with moulded ribs and purlins and carved oak bosses. The transepts, chancel and porch have common rafter roofs with straight arch braces, now open following renovation in 1911. The tower has a 19th-century ceiling to the ringing floor. At each end of the tower are tall plain 2-centred arches with soffit-chamfered imposts. The tall arches from nave to transepts have double-chamfered arch rings springing from moulded corbels acting as capitals for half-engaged clustered piers. On the south side of the nave, the blocked remains of a late Norman doorway are exposed, with traces of original paint. Most window reveals are plain, but the east window has half-engaged shafts with capitals carved as angels holding shields, with a moulded head. A projecting string course around the chancel dips below the lower western windows. In the south of the sanctuary are remains of a good 14th-century 4-step sedilia and piscina with cusped ogee arches; one arch was replaced in 1911 and another has fragments of a 16th-century text painted on it. The original chancel screen appears to have been at the west end of the tower; both the rood door and a lower doorway survive, the latter with an ancient plank door. The north transept has a 13th-century piscina and an aumbry; the oak door of the latter is late 19th-century but apparently incorporates some 17th-century carving. The flag floor includes some ancient graveslabs. The walls are plastered and the north wall includes part of a good 16th-century wall painting supposed to represent the sin of lust. The altar table is 19th-century but is fenced in Laudian style by 17th-century oak altar rails with twisted balusters. Early 20th-century stalls in Gothic style are present. The chancel screen at the east end of the tower is late 17th-century, comprising a grille of turned oak balusters on a low Beerstone wall with contemporary double doors. A good late 17th-century 'three-decker' pulpit is present; the lower clerk's desk is pine, the rest oak. Some contemporary box pews survive in the north transept. The lectern is dated 1912. Early 20th-century benches are scattered throughout. At the west end is an early 17th-century oak gallery carried on turned oak posts with a panelled oak front enriched with carving; the Tudor roses may suggest a late 16th-century date.

A good 15th-century Beerstone font survives; octagonal in form with a quatrefoil-panelled bowl enriched with four-leaf motifs and shields, and around the bottom a bold wreath of foliage emerging from the mouth of a "green man" with a stem of blind panels. The font was brought here from East Teignmouth in 1911. Some 17th-century furniture survives, notably a carved oak bench end and a panelled chest inlaid with marquetry.

A new vestry was built in 1951 following the collapse of the earlier 1911 vestry; it is lined with 17th-century panelling.

Monuments: The oldest is a graveslab in the sanctuary inscribed with a cross, possibly 13th-century. The finest has been re-erected in the north transept, commemorating Joan Wadham (d.1583). On a plain table tomb is a Beerstone plaque flanked by pilasters with a pedimented head, carved in bas relief with her two husbands facing each other and kneeling in prayer, with smaller figures of Joan behind each and her children behind those. Alongside is a simpler copy bearing a coat of arms, erected in memory of Elias Holcombe (d.1585). In the south transept is a good Beerstone monument in memory of Anna Bartlett (d.1660), comprising a chest tomb carved with cartouches and a lid supported on pairs of Ionic columns, with an architectural frame above in similar style and an epitaph. The nave includes two impressive Stuckey marble mural monuments with a board painted with their arms between, commemorating William and Mary Stuckey (d.1773 and 1763) and John Stuckey (d.1810). Several other interesting mural plaques survive, particularly in the chancel.

The church is of outstanding architectural quality, probably because it belonged to the Benedictines of Exeter Cathedral, with bishops evidently taking particular interest in its development and maintenance.