Church Of All Saints

Overview and History

All Saints is a late 15th-century parish church that underwent significant alterations and restorations through the 19th and early 20th centuries. The chancel was probably altered internally around 1844, with further internal alterations carried out between 1876 and 1883 at a cost of over £100, followed by restoration work between 1886 and 1890 costing £730. The top of the tower was altered in the first half of the 20th century, when the pinnacles were removed and the parapet was probably rebuilt. The church is constructed of dressed sandstone of almost ashlar quality with Beer-stone ashlar dressings, and has gable-ended Welsh slate roofs separately covering the nave and aisles.

Plan and Development

The church comprises a four-bay nave with five-bay north and south aisles that extend as one-bay chapels on each side of the chancel. A south porch occupies the second bay from the west. The chancel consists of two bays, and a west tower completes the plan. The chancel was more heavily restored than the rest of the church during the 1886-90 campaign, when a vestry was probably added to the north side.

Exterior

Tower

The west tower features a moulded plinth with a square sub-plinth, string courses with chamfered offsets to each stage, and set-back full-height buttresses (Pevsner type-B) with chamfered offsets. The moulded parapet string supports a rebuilt battlemented parapet with moulded coping. The central merlons to the south contain quatrefoil circular panels, while the corner merlons are wider. A wrought-iron weathercock tops the tower.

The belfry openings consist of two louvred trefoil-headed lights with panelled tympana (weathered at the time of survey in September 1987) and stone relieving arches. The second-stage west window comprises two hollow-chamfered cinquefoil-headed lights under a square head with panelled spandrels and a returned hoodmould. The first-stage west window is more elaborate, with four ogee cinquefoil-headed lights featuring moulded mullions, panelled intersecting tracery, hollow-chamfered and moulded reveals incorporating attenuated carved nook shafts with small bases and capitals, and a hoodmould with stops.

The west doorway has a continuously moulded arch, a returned hoodmould with square stops, a stone relieving arch, and a pair of 19th-century nail-studded boarded doors. The plinth returns to ground level on each side of the doorway. A stair turret occupies the south-west corner, featuring small quatrefoil openings in the south wall and a small splayed square opening at its base.

A 15th-century carved statue of the Virgin stands in a niche in the second stage to the south, set within a moulded base with flanking angled crocketed pinnacles. The canopy features three crocketed trefoil gables with a crocketed pinnacle above. A clock with a convex face and gilded hands and figures on a blue background is positioned above the niche. A granite stone set above the plinth to the south is inscribed: "TO THE GLORY OF GOD/AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF/ELIZABETH JANE FRAYNE/THIS TOWER CLOCK WAS GIVEN/BY THE ABOVE AND HER BROTHER/JOHN HENRY FRAYNE/1934". Putlock holes are visible in the tower walls.

South Aisle

The south aisle has a chamfered plinth, buttresses (diagonal at the corners) with chamfered offsets, a chamfered projecting eaves band, and parapeted gable ends with stone copings. A cross stands at the east end and a 19th-century brick stack at the west. The south windows consist of three ogee quatrefoil-headed lights with cusped panelled tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, and returned hoodmoulds with square stops. An identical window appears at the east end. The west end window is plainer, with three quatrefoil-headed lights featuring plain uncusped panelled tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals and a hoodmould with square stops.

A moulded Tudor-arched priest's doorway sits beneath the window in the second bay from the east, fitted with an old nail-studded boarded door. The south doorway in the second bay from the west has a continuously moulded archway and a pair of 19th-century nail-studded boarded doors.

South Porch

The 15th-century south porch features a hollow-chamfered plinth, angle buttresses with chamfered offsets, a chamfered projecting eaves band, and a parapet with stone coping and a cross at the apex. The moulded archway springs from two orders of shafts with moulded bases and capitals, separated by a hollow chamfer, with a hoodmould featuring carved square stops. The plinth returns to ground level on each side of the archway. A pair of 19th-century wooden and wrought-iron gates guard the entrance. An 18th-century slate sundial with a gnomon is set in a recess above the archway.

The interior of the porch has a 19th-century encaustic-tiled floor and wooden side benches. A bootscraper stands to the right of the door. 18th-century headstones are attached to the east wall of the south aisle (dated 1767) and the west wall of the south porch.

North Aisle

The north aisle has a chamfered plinth, buttresses (diagonal at corners) with chamfered offsets, and parapeted gable ends with stone copings and crosses at the apices. The windows consist of three ogee cinquefoil-headed lights with cusped panelled tracery and hollow-chamfered reveals. Identical windows appear at the east and west ends (the west window is probably a 19th-century restoration). A blocked moulded Tudor-arched priest's doorway sits beneath the window in the second bay from the east (the plinth returns to ground level on each side of the doorway). Two headstones dated 1770 and 1819 are attached to the east wall of the aisle.

Chancel

The chancel features a hollow-chamfered plinth, angle buttresses with chamfered offsets, a 19th-century hollow-chamfered projecting eaves band, and a 19th-century parapeted gable end with uncarved shields to footstones, stone coping and a cross at the apex. The restored east window, apparently a 19th-century copy of the medieval window, comprises three ogee cinquefoil-headed lights with a transom. The lower parts of the lights have cinquefoil heads with quatrefoil circles in the spandrels, panelled tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, and a hoodmould with carved winged angels as stops.

The restored south window, apparently a 19th-century copy of the medieval original, consists of three ogee cinquefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil circles, spandrels, hollow-chamfered reveals and a hoodmould with a dressed-stone flat arch above. The restored north window resembles the south window but lacks a hoodmould. Four 18th and 19th-century headstones are attached to the south wall of the chancel. A leaded-lined boxed gutter runs along the north side.

Vestry

The vestry has a chamfered plinth, angle buttresses with chamfered offsets, a moulded parapet string, and a battlemented parapet with moulded coping. The two-light east window has a chamfered mullion and returned hoodmould, with one light containing diamond leading.

Interior

Arcades and Structure

The church features 15th-century five-bay aisle arcades with compound piers consisting of four shafts with moulded bases and capitals alternating with hollow chamfers (Pevsner type-B), diamond bases and moulded four-centred arches (hollow chamfer and two rolls). Former rood loft doorways occupy the spandrels between the first and second bays from the east. The clerestory windows have carved quatrefoil arches in the spandrels, scalloping on the underside of the arches, and dressed stone jambs (plaster was stripped in the late 19th or early 20th century).

The double-chamfered tower arch has an outer chamfer dying into the responds and an inner chamfer springing from corbels carved with rosettes on the base, with a stone relieving arch above. Flanking tower buttresses with chamfered offsets have chamfered corbels on their inner faces (supporting nothing). A 20th-century glazed tower screen fills the arch. The aisle walls have set-backs at cill level. A chamfered recess appears above the east window in the south aisle. A 19th-century boarded vestry door stands at the east end of the north aisle. The windows throughout have splayed jambs.

Roofs

The nave and aisles have 15th-century ceiled waggon roofs. The nave roof features transverse and longitudinal moulded wooden ribs with carved bosses (mainly foliate), and a 19th-century moulded wooden wall plate with carved square fleurons and brattishing, supported on small 19th-century moulded stone corbels. The ceilure over the former rood is divided into smaller panels than the rest of the roof. Four 15th-century tie-beams with carved foliage trails to the sides, moulded bottom edges and brattishing above divide the roof into four bays.

The aisle roofs also have transverse and longitudinal moulded wooden ribs, carved bosses, and 19th-century moulded wooden wall plates with carved square fleurons and brattishing, supported on small 19th-century moulded stone corbels.

The chancel was probably remodelled in 1844. It has a moulded wooden chancel arch springing from moulded stone corbels and a plastered barrel roof (possibly over an earlier roof structure) with a moulded wooden cornice.

A 15th-century arched doorway stands at the foot of the tower stair. The walls are plastered throughout. The floors are stone, with 19th-century encaustic tiles in the chancel.

Fittings

Chancel Panelling

The chancel contains elaborate 17th-century panelling dated 1609, restored in 1844 (also dated) on three walls of the sanctuary. The three-bay north and south sides consist of a panelled base (lower panels with strapwork decoration), set-back upper panels with circular medallions and short tapered pilasters, a frieze with carved grotesque masks and heraldic ornament, and a strapwork panel above. The bays are divided by Ionic pilasters with strapwork ornament, set against projecting piers to the upper stage. The piers are topped by short carved obelisks with spiked globe finials, each resting on four globes on top of a small panelled pedestal. The pedestals to the panelling on the north wall bear superscribed lettering: "E P" and "1609" and on the south wall "P" and "1844" (probably standing for Poltimore).

Reredos

A three-bay panelled reredos covers the east wall (the central bay is wider), divided by Ionic pilasters. It features plain lower panels, outer upper panels with central lion masks, elongated panels to the centre bay flanking a central round-arched panel with the Royal Coat of Arms of James I and the motto "DELECTARE IN DOMINO", a frieze above with foliate ornament and a carved shield, and the centre raised over a further coat of arms (probably Poltimore) set in a cartouche, with obelisks above and at each end. A 19th-century altar table stands before it.

Gothic-arched boards flanking the east window, probably dating from 1844, display the Lord's Prayer and Creed to the left and the Commandments to the right, both with moulded frames.

Communion Rails and Seating

Late 17th or early 18th-century communion rails feature vase balusters, moulded bottom and top rails, and a central gate with flanking panelled dies. Late 19th-century choir stalls occupy the chancel.

Screen

A fine 15th-century eleven-bay screen extends across the nave and aisles, with four bays to the chancel and three to each aisle chapel. Each bay consists of four blind ogee cinquefoil-headed lower panels with tracery above and a quatrefoil band below, a moulded and enriched middle rail, and moulded and enriched arched upper openings of four ogee cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery. Each bay is separated by a shaft with moulded bases and capitals. The loft has been removed and is now plain-panelled with a moulded cornice. Pairs of gates lead to the chapels, while the opening to the chancel has no gates but features tracery above. A canted projection in the lower panels at the right-hand end has cinquefoil-headed panels and uncarved shields, possibly formerly used for the dispensation of alms.

Parclose Screens

Fifteenth-century parclose screens separate the aisle chapels from the chancel, featuring carved rails, square-headed cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, carved uprights, and carved friezes and brattishing. The south screen incorporates some 19th-century alterations.

Pulpit

A 15th-century octagonal wooden pulpit (restored in the 19th century) stands in front of the screen to the left, featuring crocketed canopied niches (some with reordered 15th-century carving and others with carved figures of 1866). It has crocketed pinnacles carved with a vine trail, tapered bases of four tiers of carved vine trails, a 19th-century octagonal stone stem, and 19th-century wooden steps with octagonal posts and a ramped handrail.

An early 18th-century octagonal wooden tester is attached by a small panel to the screen behind, with a panelled soffit (the central panel recessed with "IHS" painted in the centre), a richly carved dentil cornice with acanthus modillions alternating with paterae, and corners breaking forward. A carved angel blowing the last trump stands on top of the tester.

Font and Lectern

An octagonal Beer-stone font dating from around 1480 has a moulded base, stems with carved stone figures in panels, and a bowl with carved foliage to the base and a quatrefoil panel to each side flanked by smaller trefoil-headed panels. The bowl is lead-lined. A 19th-century brass eagle lectern serves the church.

Other Items

An old clock from the tower in the north aisle is said to have been made in Barnstaple in 1564 at a cost of £6 13s 4d and replaced in 1934. A painted Royal Coat of Arms of George III dated 1798 hangs above the south door. A 19th-century boarded draught lobby stands at the south door. A small 18th-century box pew sits behind the screen in the south aisle chapel. The organ was installed in the north aisle chapel between 1876 and 1883. Probably early 19th-century benefactors' boards stand under the tower.

Stained Glass

The east window of 1858 is by Wailes. Other late 19th-century glass appears in the aisle and chancel windows. Other windows contain diamond-leaded clear glass.

Monuments

The south aisle chapel contains a fine large monument to Sir Amyas Bamfylde (died 1626), consisting of a four-bay base with kneeling figures of offspring divided by pilasters supporting a frieze. The top features a recumbent effigy of Amyas Bamfylde to the right and a mourning figure of his wife to the left. The architectural frame consists of two segmental-arched panels to the rear with half-relief kneeling figures of offspring facing a reading desk in the centre, with four skulls in a panel below, and a bracket above with a cherub's head (a shield in a cartouche behind the effigy). Two Ionic columns to the front (and pilasters to the rear) support an entablature with a pulvinated frieze and an open segmental pediment with strapwork cresting and a central coat of arms. The monument retains ancient and later colour.

A 17th-century wrought-iron grate in front consists of diagonally-set square railings with spear and halberd tops, and barleysugar standards with urn and halberd tops, finished in ancient light-blue colour. An alabaster tablet in the wall to the right of the monument bears a Latin inscription in memory of the Bamfyldes.

The north aisle contains a large wall monument to John Burgess Esquire of Upcot (died 26 November 1758), by King of Bath. It consists of an oval marble tablet with husk drops to top and base, flanking scrolls, and a relief with a cherub holding a swagged urn with a pyramid behind to the left. A moulded base on scrolled brackets and a cartouche below complete the lower portion. Above, a cornice with egg and dart enrichment supports a central convex oval panel with the inscription and flanking husk drops, a fluted band and cornice above, and a wreathed urn at the top. It is signed "KING Ft./BATH".

Historical Notes

The galleries were removed and heating was installed between 1876 and 1883. An old print (probably late 18th or early 19th century) on the wall by the south door shows the church before restoration, with crocketed pinnacles to the tower and the original chancel windows (apparently very similar to the 19th-century restoration). Cresswell suggests that the clerestory is an addition of around 1500 and gives the principal date of restoration as 1885. It has also been suggested (Layley) that the panelling in the choir was originally made for Edmund Parker at Court House and only removed to the church in 1844 when Lord Poltimore acquired the house. It certainly looks as though it has been reordered at some time but this might be the result of restoration work in the church.