Church Of St George

Church of St George

This church on Fore Street in Tiverton was begun in 1714–1716 to the designs of John James, architect of St George, Hanover Square in London. It was completed between 1727 and 1733, following a period when the building was used as a warehouse. Late 19th-century alterations were subsequently made.

The church is constructed of Ham Hill ashlar with very fine joints and has a lead roof with lead rolls. It is prominently sited on the corner of Fore Street and St Andrew Street, with a show front facing north onto Fore Street, where a small railed churchyard stands before it. The west end forms quite a grand ensemble on the corner with St Andrew Street, which sets off the late Victorian Town Hall opposite.

The plan consists of a five-bay galleried box with a shallow chancel, arranged symmetrically with opposed doors to the west and east. Externally, the building features rusticated quoins, a plinth, and a deep projecting eaves cornice with a delicate dentil frieze. The round-headed windows have plain proud architraves. On the five-bay north side of the nave, the outer bays contain segmental-headed doorways with moulded architraves, topped by large moulded stone cornices with ramshorn consoles on anthemion-carved corbels. Pitched stone paths cross the churchyard to steps with ramped wreathed railings leading up to two-leaf panelled doors with fielded panels. The segmental-headed windows are probably late 19th-century reglazing with cast-iron glazing bars and small square leaded panes with Art Nouveau borders. The gallery windows are taller, with plain aprons to the centre three windows.

The south elevation is similar, though the south-east door has been renewed and the south-west door has a pretty overlight with round-headed lights. Good door furniture survives on the original doors, including a metal drawbar to the south-west door. The three-bay west end rises high above the level of St Andrew Street on a stepped plinth. The centre bay is a pedimented projection with blind windows matching those on the north and south sides and smaller recesses on either side. Above the pediment stands a stone pilastered bellcote with louvred round-headed openings and a tent lead roof with a weathervane. The outer bays have windows matching those on the north and south sides. The east end features a large east window without an apron.

Internally, the church has internal porches on the north side with fielded panels. A plastered barrel roof extends over the nave, with shallower barrels over the north and south galleries. The central roof is divided into two bays by plain ribs and has good plaster ceiling roses to every other bay. The gallery roofs have ceiling roses but no ribs. The roof bay over the chancel is a panelled ceilure with decorated mouldings and miniature plaster ceiling roses; Pevsner reports cast-iron roof construction here, possibly a late 19th-century amendment.

Portland stone square piers with recessed corners and moulded capitals support Ionic columns to the north and south galleries. Gallery frontals have timber fielded panels, while gallery walls are decorated with Ionic pilasters and a moulded cornice. The west gallery, which is very deep and supported on two cast-iron columns, may have been altered but retains a timber cartouche on the frontal. Symmetrical staircases serve the west gallery, with additional staircases at the east end on the north and south sides. The stairs are 18th-century work with tapering turned balusters and a moulded handrail. The floor of the north and south galleries is squinted up to accommodate the height of the nave windows. The nave has a black and white tiled floor.

The chancel is lined with good panelling featuring reeded Corinthian pilasters and an entablature with an egg and dart frieze and dentil cornice. The panels contain pedimented recesses with console brackets; the two flanking the altar contain the text of the Ten Commandments. A timber altar table, probably late 19th-century in 17th-century style, stands in the chancel. Good 18th-century timber altar rails with curved corners and alternate barleysugar and tapering balusters survive. A timber pulpit dated 1878 in classical style features a drum with a cornice of arabesques and acanthus, and carved saints under round-headed niches, all on a bracketed stem. A probably late 19th-century stone font with an octagonal carved bowl is located in the west end baptistry. Late 19th-century benches with shaped ends line the nave.

Gallery seating is tiered and may be 18th-century, with panelled ends. The east window, executed in a painterly manner by Beer of Exeter, is dated 1846. Several good 18th and early 19th-century white marble wall monuments survive, including one to Henry Blagdon, died 1746. A patent vent system on the nave walls consists of timber boxes and a method of opening and closing external vents.

According to Dunsford, writing in 1790, the original pulpit stood at the west end of the central aisle.

This is the finest 18th-century church in Devon and compares well to the best examples of the period elsewhere in the country. It was begun, according to Pevsner, with a view to accommodating dissenters in Tiverton. Both externally and internally it is very urbane, and as Pevsner states, it has a "harmonious interior little disturbed by later alterations".