Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Upottery

This is a parish church with late 12th-century origins, largely rebuilt in more than one phase during the 15th century, and subject to various 19th-century alterations including a major renovation in 1875–76. The building is constructed of local stone and flint rubble with original Beerstone detail and replacement Bathstone detail, including Hamstone on the upper stage of the tower. The roof is slate.

The church comprises a nave and lower chancel, with a north aisle that does not extend the full length of the nave. A west tower, south porch, and vestry stand on the south side of the chancel. The chancel contains evidence of late 12th-century work, while the tower dates from the early 15th century and the north aisle probably from the mid to late 15th century. The vestry was built in 1858, and the church underwent thorough renovation in 1875–76. A new ringing chamber was constructed in 1892, with the organ loft also dating from 1892.

Exterior

The tall west tower comprises three stages with low diagonal buttresses and a semi-octagonal stair turret on the south side. It features an embattled parapet and carved animal and gargoyle waterspouts. Large transomed two-light belfry windows display Perpendicular tracery and hoodmoulds. A painted clockface appears on the west side. The west doorway is 15th-century work—a Beerstone two-centred arch with moulded surround including a band of weathered four-leaf motifs and a hoodmould with worn carved label stops. Above it sits a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould with jewelled label stops.

Throughout the rest of the church, all gables have shaped kneelers and coping, and most bear apex crosses. The chancel and north aisle feature diagonal buttresses. All windows are 19th-century replacements with Perpendicular tracery; most have plain hoodmoulds.

A gabled porch occupies the centre of the south side of the nave. It has a plain two-centred outer arch, of which only the head is of ashlar stone. The south doorway is a two-centred arch with chamfered surround. At the right (east) end of the nave, a square-cornered projection is probably the disused rood stair turret. The vestry of 1858 is executed in Tudor Gothic style.

Interior

The nave and aisle contain 19th-century boarded wagon roofs with moulded ribs and purlins and carved bosses. The chancel has a 19th-century common rafter roof of plain arch-braced trusses. The tall 15th-century tower arch has a moulded surround, though much is obscured by the organ loft. The 19th-century chancel arch has a moulded surround, and the inner ring springs from corbels carved as foliage.

A 15th-century three-bay arcade of Beerstone comprises moulded piers (Pevsner's type 3) and capitals carved as foliage with shields. A fourth arch connects the chancel and north chapel; it is smaller but similar to the main arcade, though panelled. On the south side of the chancel, another arch leads through to the vestry, built in 1897 in the same style as the arcade. The walls are plastered.

Most of the floor is flagged, including some 17th- and 18th-century graveslabs, particularly in the aisle. The sanctuary floor displays a pattern of coloured tiles. Oak panelling around the sanctuary and the oak altar rail date from circa 1920. The stalls, lectern, reading desk, and pulpit are all oak; the benches are pine and simple with minimal Gothic enrichment. All date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A 15th-century Beerstone font has an octagonal bowl carved with quatrefoil panels containing four-leaf motifs, a plain coved base, and panelled stem.

The principal memorial stands in the north aisle: a marble mural monument to John Hutchins (died 1709) and his wife Katherine (died 1707), comprising a rectangular plaque flanked by Corinthian pilasters with an entablature above, surmounted by an open pediment and heraldic cartouche. Below the apron is a cartouche with a carved skull. Two lozenge-shaped hatchment boards painted with the Sidmouth arms hang in the nave.

The chancel windows and eastern windows of the nave and aisle contain 19th-century stained glass. The west window of the nave contains medallions composed of fragments of ancient stained glass.