Church Of St George

A parish church of medieval origin, substantially developed through the 15th century and extensively altered and restored in the 19th century.

The main body of the church contains 13th-century fabric in the nave, with the south aisle possibly dating to the 14th century. Both were rebuilt in the 15th century, when the west tower was added. The church was classicized in 1762, though most of those features were later removed. The chancel was rebuilt in 1876 by J Fowler of Louth.

The exterior is constructed of random stone rubble with large blocks to the tower, featuring ashlar dressings to openings and dressed stone quoins. The roof is slate with crested ridge tiles, coped gable ends, and apex crosses. A tall round shaft with lipped cap serves as the vestry stack.

The west tower rises in three stages with set-back buttresses, an embattled parapet, and a stair turret with four slit windows to the north side. Bell-openings contain ogee-arched lights—two lights on each side except the north, which has a single light—all with hoodmoulds. Weatherings to the former higher roof pitch of the nave appear on the east side, where a stair turret window sits in the second stage. The west side displays a pointed-arched four-light window with a labelled hoodmould above a pointed-arched 15th-century doorway. The doorway surround is hollow moulded with fleurons and foliated emblems, together with a single ecclesiastical bust, and is topped by a pointed-arched hoodmould with weathered human head corbels. A plank door closes the opening. The south side has a single-light square-headed window at the top of the first stage.

The south aisle's west end has a two-light pointed-arched window with hoodmould. Three pointed-arched windows on the south side each contain three cusped-headed lights with hoodmoulds. Buttresses with offsets flank the upper two windows. A rainwater head in the angle is dated 1876. The south porch features a semicircular-headed slate sundial dated 1773 above a pointed-arched entrance with chamfered surround and human head corbels to the hoodmould. The inner door is pointed-arched with a deep chamfered surround, and a 19th-century framed and ledged pointed-arch door is present. A blocked pointed-arched window stands at the east end of the south aisle.

The chancel has a two-light window to its south side with label stops to the hoodmould, and a pointed-arched three-light east window with hoodmould. A quatrefoil window appears on the north side. A rainwater head dated 1876 is set in the angle of the chancel and vestry. The vestry features a pointed-arched doorway on its east side with hoodmould and foliated corbels. Buttresses flank a three-light pointed-arched window on the north side. The nave has three three-light windows with pointed arches and hoodmoulds, with buttresses flanking the lower two.

Internally, an unmoulded pointed tower arch opens to the main space. A deeply incised ogee-arched doorway provides access to the stair turret. A wooden charity board hangs on the south wall of the tower. The nave and south aisle retain unceiled waggon roofs with carved bosses at each intersection point.

An arcade of five bays runs the length of the nave, employing Pevsner 'B' type piers with leaf capitals to the main shafts. The fifth bay, which extends to the south chancel chapel, has a double arch; the chancel-side arch is 19th-century but executed in similar style. 19th-century furnishings populate the nave.

A stone pulpit features panelled insets on three sides, with short marble colonnettes supporting enriched arches. An early square-bowled font with chamfered sides lies near the pulpit base. A blocked ogee-arched doorway lies behind the pulpit.

The elaborate 19th-century reredos displays crocketted pinnacles and double steeply-pointed arches to each side, with marble colonnettes and painted figures in each of the four panels. A stone-carved panel depicting the Last Supper occupies the centre.

Two 13th-century ogee-arched piscinae survive: one in the south wall of the chancel and another in the south chancel chapel. An 18th-century wooden screen to the south chancel chapel, restored in 1912, features fluted Ionic pilasters, demi-panels to each side, and a central semicircular archway with barleysugar shafts. A broken segmental pediment crowns the achievement at the centre.

A stone panel on the north chancel wall, reset in the 19th century and dating to circa 1300, depicts the Crucifixion. Mutilated heads represent Christ and two flanking figures, with weeping angels at each end of the cross. A stone effigy in a segmental-arched niche in the south wall of the south chancel chapel is said to represent Mauger of St Aubyn (died 1294), shown as a cross-legged knight with two dogs at his feet, sword, and shield, flanked by supportive angels.

An elaborate 17th-century monument to the Newcourt family of Pickwell spans the angle of the chapel. Cherubs ornament the base of Ionic colonnettes that flank six roundels, each containing a bust with some original painted decoration.

A large marble monument erected in 1776 on the east wall of the chapel commemorates John Hams of Pickwell, who was twice Member of Parliament for Barnstaple and died in 1768, and his family. The monument features a marble bust above two putti flanking a profile of Mrs Harris, standing on a marble base.

A tablet in the south wall of the aisle commemorates John Heddon, gent of South Hole, who died in 1831, and his wife who died in 1853. It was made by J Gould of Barnstaple.

A wall monument on the north side of the nave honours Edward Richards, gent, and his family, dating to the late 18th century. It features a broken pediment with a central achievement and consoles flanking the shield base.

An unusual late 16th-century tablet on the north chancel wall commemorates Iohannis Berry, rector, and bears Greek and Latin inscriptions.