Parish Church Of St Andrew

This parish church is among the finest in the west country. The nave and north and south aisles possibly date from the first half of the 15th century. The Lane aisle (outer south aisle) was begun in 1526, with building still in progress in 1552. The west tower was begun in 1539 and still under construction in 1545. The church was restored and the chancel rebuilt in 1849-51 by Edward Ashworth.

The building is constructed of coursed rubble red sandstone and breccia with Beerstone dressing. It comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, outer south aisle, south-west porch, chancel, and south-east vestry.

The West Tower

The tower rises in four stages with set-back buttresses featuring four set-offs, all adorned with crouching animals and finials. It has a battlemented parapet with quatrefoil panels and openwork pinnacles at the corners and midway along each side, all crocketed and finialed. A polygonal stair turret rises on the north face. Pointed two-light belfry openings pierce all sides with transoms. A two-light ringing-chamber opening appears at the second stage on the south side.

The west show front displays elaborate Beerstone detailing. Above the four-light Perpendicular west window sits a central panel, its sill formed by the second stage string course. This contains a defaced Calvary with smaller panels on either side showing St George and Edmund the Martyr respectively, all under nodding canopies. The panels are framed by foliated shafts with faces, knops and capitals, with detailing Renaissance in character. A quatrefoil frieze enriches the plinth and first stage. Armorial panels flanking the west window display the arms of England and of Bishop Veysey. The hoodmould of the west door is formed by the plinth string-course, with the door surround featuring concave moulding bearing fleurons and varied coloured stone voussoirs. A 19th-century gabled stone clock surround with pinnacles was placed above the Calvary panel.

The north side of the tower has one armorial panel. The south side has two similar panels, with a third showing the Annunciation below the ringing-chamber opening, much defaced. The legends on these panels are obliterated, but they include the date of construction (1539).

South Side

A battlemented porch stands at the west end of the inner south aisle, with set-back buttresses, quatrefoil panels to the merlons, and a quatrefoil frieze below. The south doorway features fleurons to the middle concave moulding, with a similar doorway to the south aisle proper. A parvise above has a square-headed two-light window to the south. Early 19th-century iron gates are fitted.

The Lane aisle extends for five bays and is battlemented with a frieze of quatrefoils dated 1805. Four-light Perpendicular windows alternate with buttresses having three set-offs. The great six-light west window and the two windows to the west of the aisle are contemporary with the 16th-century scheme; the others appear to have been reused from the old south aisle. The south front is adorned with motifs reflecting the source of John Lane's wealth. These have been much discussed and the problems resolved by Professor Carus-Wilson. They include cloth shears, tenter-hooks (the "figure-4" motif, a handframe set with teasels for raising the nap on cloth), and boats. A polygonal stair turret provides access to the rood-screen door and aisle roof. A priest's door is present. Five lead rainwater heads include one dated 1709 and another 1810.

The late-medieval south-east vestry has a two-light south window and a small square-headed east window with concave surround, stanchions and saddle bars, with 20 leaded panes per light.

The chancel by Ashworth has set-back buttresses and a Perpendicular east window of five lights. Lancet and three-light side windows light the sanctuary.

North Side

The north side extends for six bays and is battlemented with four-light Perpendicular windows, one with a crenellated transom perhaps marking a former chantry. A polygonal screen stair-turret rises here. The north-west doorway has fleurons to its concave moulding.

Interior

The nave and chancel extend for six bays with no structural division. Conventional wavy moulding appears with varied capitals featuring foliage, faces and angels. Internal panelled buttressing to the Lane aisle arcade shows evidence in the two easternmost bays of former screens. All windows have internal nook shafts except the three-light clerestory windows, which have depressed window arches and deep reveals. Medieval plasterwork survives in the north-east (More) chapel.

Roofs

The nave and chancel have an elaborate celled wagon roof. Each of four bays is divided by transverse ribs with foliated sides and soffit and central pendants, which spring from small hammerbeams supporting large angels. Panels to each bay have bosses at the intersection of subordinate ribs, each panel with diagonal ribs having fretted borders and small central bosses. A panelled wall-plate is supported by angel corbels. Much of the colour in the nave is probably 18th and early 19th century, but some medieval paintwork may survive. A reference to Ashworth regilding the chancel suggests he retained the old roof rather than constructing a copy. Above the screen is an arch-braced tie beam designed to support the rood, which judging by the size of the Golgotha (preserved at the rear of the church, a unique survival) and the mortices on the rood-loft floor, must have filled the available space in between. Fillets have been inserted on the south side of the roof-beam to rectify outward lean of the south wall.

The north and south aisles have flat panelled ceilings with chamfered ribs featuring run-out stops, diagonal ribbing and central bosses to each panel. Some early colour survives throughout.

The Lane aisle has a five-bay stone fan vault that may result from a late change in plan after building operations were underway. A full technical description and appraisal appears in Leedy. The original cranked timber collars above the vault survive intact.

Screens

The rood screen is late 15th century with no Renaissance detailing. It has 11 bays with open tracery to each, similar in design but not identical to the aisle window tracery. Coving is complete with three tiers of foliage. The brattishing dates from 1850 when the colouring was renewed. The rood loft has mortices for the frontal and Golgotha, which itself supported the Cross and the figures of Mary and John.

The south parclose has four bays with entrance under a segmental arch, conventional Perpendicular tracery panels, wainscotting and a two-tier cornice.

The north parclose to the More chantry chapel is of unusual design. It has four wide bays with very angular tracery made up of straight ribs and peg-like cusping. One foliage band to the cornice has dragons at each end, with shield-bearing angels forming a wide frieze above. The cornice and frieze on either side of the screen are set at a 45-degree angle. The shields show More quartering various families. The armorial evidence suggests a late 16th-century date, but although of unusual profile, the detailing of this parclose is entirely late-medieval in character.

Wall Paintings

Wall paintings are now covered but were disclosed and recorded by Ashworth in Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Society, III (1849), plates 33-37. They appear to have formed a remarkably complete set.

West Gallery

The west gallery is supported by five Ionic columns. The frontal has panels of paired round-headed arches, the side panel divided by Ionic or Doric pilasters, the central panel by atlantes with Ionic capitals. A decorative frieze with heads appears above, with a decorative band below. A panel in the south chancel aisle, possibly late 16th century, shows Faith, Hope, Philip and Thomas each under a round-headed arch.

Monuments and Floor Slabs

A 14th-century monument slab in the south-west porch bears a badly worn foliated cross. Numerous floor slabs in the More chantry are described in detail by Cresswell. Another slab to John Lane at the east end of his aisle is half obscured by 19th-century seating.

On the nave south wall, a mural monument to Francis Colman, Esquire, died 1820, was erected in 1849 by J E Carew of London. It has moulded surrounds to two epitaph panels with palm swirls and a heraldic device above. Some small, minor late 18th and early 19th-century wall tablets are present. Especially good is that to David Sweet, died 1807, with an urn and epitaph panel with cornice set against a black marble cartouche on the north aisle north wall.

On the Lane aisle south wall, a First World War memorial under the Morris window is rendered in waxy red and white marble with three panels: the names of the dead to the centre, with a soldier and a parting from family scene occupying the outer panels.

Stained Glass

Nine good 19th and early 20th-century windows include a Morris & Co. of 1904; a Drake in the Lane aisle south, 1882 (and probably Lane aisle east, 1877); and two which are probably Clayton & Bell (Lane aisle west, and south window VIII).