Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This is a parish church with Norman origins, substantially developed in the 13th and 15th centuries and significantly restored in 1884. The building is of considerable architectural and historical importance.

The chancel dates from the 13th century and is constructed of plastered rubble with volcanic stone dressings. The nave, north aisle and tower are 15th-century work in granite ashlar, though some granite details have been replaced with Beerstone. The south wall of the nave and south porch were rebuilt in 1884 using snecked volcanic stone with granite, Beerstone and volcanic detail. The roofing comprises slate tiles with red tiles to the porch.

The windows display mixed stylistic periods. The chancel has an early Decorated east window, though side lancets suggest an earlier date. The remainder of the church is Perpendicular in style. The plan comprises a nave with a lower, narrower chancel; a north aisle with an east chapel under a separate roof; a west tower; a south porch; and a small 19th-century south porch to the chancel.

The large unrestored west tower rises in three stages with diagonal buttresses that continue above the embattled parapet as pinnacles. All sides have 2-light round-headed granite belfry windows. The west side features a moulded arched doorway and a 3-light Perpendicular window with granite tracery and hood mould, the lower drip mould rising over the top of the window.

The south side of the nave is largely 1884 work. A gable-ended porch with diagonal buttresses and a moulded granite arch is surmounted by a terracotta fleur-de-lys cross, with moulded volcanic undercloaking beneath the gable. Three nave windows are present: a restored 15th-century volcanic 2-light window with round heads to the left of the porch, a 19th-century volcanic Decorated-style window to the right, and a 3-light Perpendicular window at the right end with original granite sides and hood mould but restored Beerstone tracery. At the right end, 19th-century masonry encloses a turret for the rood stair. The chancel has three lancet windows, a broad pilaster buttress left of centre, and a small monopitch stone-roofed porch with a shoulder-headed doorway right of centre. An early Decorated window with geometric tracery occupies the east end, with a single lancet to the north. The north aisle has offset buttresses at the corners and five restored Perpendicular windows with original granite sills and intervening buttresses.

Interior features include ceiled wagon roofs throughout the nave, aisle and chancel. The chancel roof is original, with carved oak bosses and a moulded wall plate featuring 4-leaf motifs at intervals; the aisle retains some original carpentry, though the nave appears largely to be 19th-century renovation work. A 5-bay granite arcade serves the north aisle, with the fifth arch between the chancel and north chapel. The piers are moulded, of Pevsner's Cornish A type, with undecorated capitals. The high tower arch has square sides with chamfered corners, plain imposts and a chamfered double arch ring. A 15th-century south door is of studded oak plank construction with applied tracery defining four trefoil-headed panels, set in a 19th-century stone arch. The flagged floor includes several inscribed 17th-century gravestones. A granite arch to the rood loft stairs is present in the south wall. The south chancel wall includes a small arch-headed piscina. The rear arches to the north aisle windows are hollow-chamfered and contain fragments of 15th-century stained glass. Isolated patches of mural painting appear on the north wall.

Three bays of a late 15th-century oak rood screen, originally of eight bays, have been reset as a parclose with a central door across the north aisle. Although partly restored, the work is of very high quality with delicate carving and includes twelve original painted figure panels in blind tracery. Another painted screen fragment is mounted on the south wall.

A late 11th-century Beerstone font is a profusely decorated girdled tub on a circular base, now set on a 20th-century granite plinth. A partly restored 16th-century oak pulpit has an octagonal drum on a stem with five panelled sides featuring elaborate carvings including birds, grotesque heads, a mermaid and a harpy. Eight 15th-century oak benches in the south aisle have carved ends showing two tiers of recessed trefoil-headed panels with a crenellated rail between.

Later furnishings include late 19th-century oak choirstalls with carved ends and wrought ironwork, both by local craftsmen. The wrought ironwork is distinctively bold; the heavy strap hinges of the west tower door are inscribed with the date 1873 and a series of initials.

A good late 17th-century marble monument to the Daveys of Medland Manor occupies the east end of the south wall, with an oval medallion flanked by Corinthian columns, a moulded cornice under arms, flanking cartouches and a sill on consoles. The north wall of the chancel features a brass to R.L. Pennell who died in Zanzibar in 1872, depicting a missionary ship and African isle. Two painted achievements of the Royal Arms are present: rare arms of Elizabeth I over the south door and arms of George II dated 1735 in the north aisle. A fragment of Nottingham alabaster, found during renovation work and mounted on the south wall, depicts the head of Christ carrying the Cross, two soldiers and another head, possibly Simon of Cyrene. A lead plaque in the north aisle is inscribed "Richard Dicker, James Lob, Wardins, 1704".

The belfry was not inspected at the time of listing.