Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church at Bicton Park, built between 1848 and 1850. The foundation stone was laid in 1848 and the church was consecrated in 1850. It was built at the expense of Louisa, Lady Rolle, with J. Hayward as architect.

The church is constructed of snecked grey limestone with larger ashlar blocks, featuring faint rustication on the quoins and buttresses. Hamstone ashlar provides detail work outside, while Caen stone ashlar is used for interior detailing. The roof is covered with scallop-shaped red tiles and features fleur-de-lys crested ridge tiles.

The building follows a cruciform plan in Decorated Gothic style. The nave is taller than the chancel and transepts. A tower rises over the end of the south transept, which also houses the vestry. The north transept contains the Rolle Pew with its own entrance via the north porch. A south porch is positioned towards the western end of the nave.

Architectural details include a chamfered plinth running around the entire church, with moulded dripcourses at intervals and above window sill level. Windows throughout contain Decorated style tracery. All windows and arches except those on the tower have hoodmoulds with labels carved as heads of Kings and Queens. Iron gutters with embossed fleur-de-lys decoration and crenellated tops run around the church. All gables have shaped kneelers, some enriched with carved heads, coping and fleuree apex crosses.

The west end features angle buttresses, lancets at each end with cusped tracery, and a large oculus towards the top. The south side has another lancet at the left end. The south porch is gable-ended with low diagonal buttresses and small trefoil-headed windows in the side walls. Its outer arch is two-centred with moulded surround and half-engaged shafts with moulded caps and bases. Above the arch is a sunken trefoil panel containing the date 1850. To the left are two three-light windows with Decorated tracery separated by a buttress; at the right end is another lancet with cusped tracery.

The tall south tower rises in three stages with angle buttresses stopping below the belfry. The stair turret projects from the south-west corner, its stone roof hipping into the walls at belfry level. Its chamfered corner splays out to a square corner just above the upper dripcourse. It contains small quatrefoil lights and an external door on the west side with a segmental pointed arch. The parapet is open with cusped tracery over a moulded frieze containing carved gargoyle heads. Large two-light belfry windows with Decorated style tracery are filled with stone lattice of quatrefoil shapes. The west side of the lower stage contains two trefoil-headed lancets, one over the other. The south side has an oculus with tracery in the middle stage, a trefoil-headed lancet towards the top of the lower stage, and at the bottom a two-centred arch priests doorway with moulded surround and dripcourse carried over as a hood. The east side of the lower stage includes a segmental pointed arched two-light window.

The transepts each have lancets with tracery, while the north transept also includes a four-light window in the end. The chancel has angle buttresses, a two-light window on each side and a large five-light window in the east end. The north porch is gable-ended with a two-centred outer arch similar to that on the south porch, containing a plank door with ornate strap hinges and a twin lancet window in the side. The north side of the nave has three three-light windows with buttresses between them and a lancet with cusped tracery at the right (western) end.

The carved heads on the labels and kneelers form a complete series of English monarchs in order, beginning immediately right of the south porch. Notable examples include Philip and Mary on the north transept, Queen Elizabeth in the corner above, and Oliver Cromwell on the kneeler of the north porch. The north nave windows feature the Stuarts through to William and Mary, the Georges on the west end, and the series concludes with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on the south porch.

The interior preserves the 1851 scheme in its entirety and is of high quality. The south porch has a stone flagged floor and an open roof of scissor-braced common rafter couples. The south doorway is a two-centred arch with moulded surround and a plank door with Gothic-style wrought iron strap hinges.

The nave features an open eight-bay roof of king post trusses with moulded arch braces springing from stone corbels carved as human heads representing the Divines of the English Church. A moulded stone cornice runs along the wall top, and the roof is backed by pine boards.

The transepts and chancel have boarded vaults with moulded ribs and a carved boss over the crossing. The same moulded stone cornice continues here, along with more carved stone corbels. The largest corbels in the church occupy each corner of the crossing. The chancel arch is a moulded stone arch with clustered column responds, carved foliate caps and a hoodmould with carved angels on the labels. The walls are plastered and windows have chamfered rear inner arches.

The tiled floor includes patterns of encaustic tiles. The crossing floor is bordered with encaustic tiles and features a panel of the Royal Arms with the initials VR repeated around. A marble step up to the sanctuary has tiles featuring the Rolle Arms and insignia. The sanctuary floor itself is rich with encaustic tiles featuring symbols of the Evangelists amongst others.

The furniture is of oak and Gothic style. The altar front has a blind arcade with carved spandrels, and the altar rail stands on a sturdy arcade. The Rolle pew in the north transept and stalls in the south transept have blind arcades to the frontals with carved tracery and poppyhead finials on the bench ends. The oak eagle lectern is dated 1907 in memory of Mark Rolle. The drum pulpit has blind arcaded sides and crocketted finials. The nave benches are plainer than others, with blind tracery on the ends and moulded tops.

The font is very ornate, made of Caen stone and carved by Samuel Rowe of Exeter. It is octagonal and Perpendicular Gothic in style, with cusped arches springing from the heads of praying angels and crocketted pinnacles on the corners with carved foliage in the spandrels. The stem is plain under a band of foliage, and the stepped base includes a painted Biblical quotation.

There are no memorials in the church. The painted arms of George III hang on the north side of the nave. All windows except those on the south side are original and in consistent Decorated Gothic style. The east window contains representations of the apostles and the Virgin Mary.

This church replaced the original medieval church, which was ruined and converted to the Rolle Mausoleum by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. It became a feature of the landscaped concept of Bicton Park and its Italianate Gardens. The importance of the church extends beyond its completeness, quality and landscape value. Lady Rolle employed Hayward, a pioneer architect of the Ecclesiological Movement, and this is a good early example of a church which adheres to their principles.