Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Bishop's Nympton

The Church of St Mary is a major parish church of medieval origin, with a 12th-century font and existing medieval fabric predominantly from the 15th and 16th centuries, though the south aisle is documented as completed in 1621. The building underwent significant restoration in the 19th century: the chancel was restored in 1868 by Edward Ashworth of Exeter at a cost of £1,500, with further restoration in 1877 costing £1,090; the tower was restored in 1893, and an organ chamber was added in 1895.

The church is constructed of slatestone rubble with freestone dressings, with the tower masonry brought to course and slate roofs throughout. The plan comprises a chancel, nave, six-bay south aisle (with one bay extending to the chancel), a west tower, south-west porch, north-east vestry, and organ chamber. The architecture is predominantly Perpendicular, though the fabric of the nave and chancel may be earlier.

Exterior

The church presents as a large parish church dominated by a dramatically tall west tower, which Pevsner described as "one of the stateliest of north Devon". The tower is four stages high, battlemented with crocketted corner pinnacles (now reduced in size) and very deep set-back buttresses with set-offs. It features moulded string courses and carved grotesques below the battlementing. The west face displays a depressed four-centred arched moulded doorframe with remains of carving in the spandrels and a square-headed hood mould with carved label stops; the door is of 19th-century plank and cover strip construction with pre-19th-century door furniture. Two-light Perpendicular traceried belfry openings appear on all four faces, with the south face also featuring a two-light traceried window. The east face carries a large clock face dated 1897 set diagonally within a frame, and below it a decayed medieval cusped statue niche; the timber statue formerly housed here has been moved inside the church.

The main church body features a four-light east window with Perpendicular tracery, though the form of the embrasure may be Decorated in origin. A similar two-light south window to the chancel is present. The nave has two three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery of different designs, the mullions and hood moulds renewed. The south aisle contains a 19th-century three-light traceried window of Ham Hill stone on the east end and a three-light 19th-century traceried window on the west. The south side of the church displays four windows with various tracery designs, largely renewed in the 19th century. A 19th-century moulded four-centred arched doorframe with cushion stops provides access to the priest's door, fitted with a 19th-century plank and cover strip door.

The gabled porch is located in the first bay from the west. Its outer doorframe displays late 15th- to early 16th-century mouldings that match those of the arcade and tower arch. A pair of 19th-century timber gates with iron verticals above the middle rail and timber braces stands above the entrance. The porch roof is 19th-century arch braced, with a moulded four-centred arched inner doorframe bearing cushion stops and fitted with a 19th-century plank and cover strip door.

Interior

The interior features unplastered walls. A 19th-century timber chancel arch divides the spaces. The late 15th- to 16th-century south arcade has moulded depressed four-centred arches, with piers featuring capitals only to the corner shafts. A very tall and elegant tower arch displays mouldings that echo those of the arcade.

The nave roof is a ceiled wagon with a 19th-century wall plate, though the ribs and flat carved bosses are likely of the early 16th century. The aisle roof is similarly a ceiled wagon with 19th-century wall plate. The eastern end features more sculptural medieval bosses, including a shield-bearing angel; the remaining bosses in the aisle are late 19th-century replacements.

The chancel roof is extremely rare for a Devon church: it is a medieval arch braced roof rather than the more common wagon form. The roof has undergone thorough 19th-century restoration with new wall-plates; that on the south side is carved on brackets above the easternmost bay of the arcade. The main trusses, probably of the 15th century, feature moulded arch braces, threaded purlins, and a diagonally-set ridge.

The chancel contains a chamfered 19th-century Tudor arched doorframe to the vestry below a blocked round-headed arch, and a moulded arch of 1895 leading to the organ chamber. Choir stalls, probably of 1869, feature poppyheads and traceried frontals. Late 19th-century Gothic panelling from the sanctuary has been relocated to the east end of the south aisle.

A medieval timber statue, approximately 1.5 metres high and formerly displayed on the east face of the tower, has been re-sited above the vestry door. The statue depicts St James and is elongated in form, possibly of Spanish origin.

Furnishings

The church contains a Caen stone pulpit with a memorial date of 1888, featuring blind traceried panels divided by buttresses and a carved cornice. The 12th-century font has a square bowl decorated with round-headed arches, set upon a cylindrical stem; the Purbeck marble moulded base and corner shafts are 19th-century additions. Nave benches, probably of the late 1860s, feature square-headed traceried ends. 19th-century commandment boards in painted slate have been resited on the west wall of the nave. Late 18th- to early 19th-century timber benefaction boards are fixed to the tower walls and feature moulded frames; one retains painted decoration.

Monuments

The north wall of the chancel contains a late Perpendicular chest and recess, possibly the tomb of John Basset of Whitechapel (died 1485), though earlier scholars have attributed it to Judge Pollard of Grilstone. The chest is decorated with two tiers of quatrefoils within twisted bead moulding, and the recess features a crank-headed arch with twisted ribbon and foliage moulding, carved spandrels, and a panelled soffit. The crowning armorial shield is flanked by unicorn supporters (Basset heraldry) but bears a puzzling leopard's head crest, not consistent with Basset arms.

Several 19th-century wall monuments are present: a white marble Egyptian tablet in the chancel to Mary Jones (died 1838), signed by Gould of Barnstaple; a Gothic gabled monument to the Toms family (memorial dates 1800–1906) in the nave; a late 19th-century Gothic monument to the Balman family (memorial dates 1818–1895), also in the nave; and a white marble Gothic wall monument to John Sanger of Whitechapel (died 1834) in the south aisle. The tower contains a good slate wall tablet commemorating John Blackmore of Cross and recording a benefaction; the border is decorated with fruit, flowers, and representations of death and time, painted.

Glass

The east window may be by Beer of Exeter and was described as "modern" in 1844. The south chancel window is probably by Alfred Beer of Exeter, bearing a memorial date of 1835 but likely dating to approximately ten years later. The east window of the south aisle has a memorial date of 1888 and is by Clayton and Bell.

St Mary's is a major north Devon parish church distinguished by its fine tower and its very unusual medieval arch braced chancel roof.