Church Of St Petrox

CHURCH OF ST PETROX, DARTMOUTH

Parish church with probable late 12th-century Norman origins, evidenced by its Norman font. The building was substantially rebuilt and enlarged in 1641, as recorded by a date plaque. It is constructed from local limestone and slatestone rubble, mostly rendered with roughcast but with exposed stonework on the west end and tower; freestone detail is used throughout, and the roof is slate with crested ridge tiles.

The plan comprises an uninterrupted nave and chancel with full-length north and south aisles, a west tower, and a small lean-to heated vestry set against the west end of the south aisle.

The exterior is vaguely Perpendicular in style. The tower rises in two stages with low offset buttresses and a stair tower projecting from the south side to an embattled parapet. Belfry windows have arched heads, with tiny lancets lighting the ringing floor. The tower contains a 4-light west window and a blocked Tudor-arch doorway on the north side. The main doorway is located at the west end of the north aisle; another Tudor-arch doorway sits beneath a weathered plaque from which only "41" of the 1641 date remains legible. Both doorways have panelled doors that appear to be 19th-century work but reuse older ironwork. A window above the south doorway has plain mullions from a later repair; a similar window appears at the east end of the south aisle. The north side is strengthened by two raking buttresses and carries windows at each end. The south side has three windows to the right of the vestry. All these windows are arch-headed, mullioned and transomed, with three lights and Tudor arch-headed lights but without hoodmoulds; a larger 4-light version appears at the east end of the north aisle. The chancel's east window features intersecting tracery.

The interior preserves the uninterrupted nave and chancel. Four-bay arcades support the aisles on octagonal piers with plain moulded capitals. Plain plastered barrel-vaulted ceilings run throughout. A tall plain tower arch frames the ringing floor, which is supported by large beams. The tower walls retain exposed stone, whilst the rest of the church is plastered. The tower floor displays an attractive chequer pattern in red, black, and cream tiles. The remainder of the church has a stone flag floor, including good graveslabs and brasses in the chancel.

Fittings include a 20th-century altar table and communion rail. The outstanding 17th-century oak pulpit is octagonal with panelled sides and bears the date 1641. Plain 19th-century pine benches furnish the church. At the west end of the south aisle, a partition constructed from pieces of 17th-century panelling enriched with guilloche, strapwork, cherubs, and leafy scrolls screens off part of the space; these fragments probably derive from a 17th-century gallery, dismantled in 1885. Similar panelled sections from the gallery front, carved with matching ornament, are now set in the tower and used to commemorate parishioners who died in both World Wars.

The font is a good Norman piece of red sandstone, circular in stem and bowl, decorated with a frieze of palmette ornament. On the south wall are painted arms of Charles II dated 1660. The north wall carries painted boards recording charitable bequests, the largest dated 1677 with others from 1823 and 1841. An arcade of round-headed boards at the west end of the south aisle, from a former reredos, includes taller outer boards painted with the Lord's Prayer and the Creed with biblical quotations between.

Memorials include two 18th-century funeral hatchments of the Holdsworth family. The floor contains a good collection of mostly 17th and 18th-century ledger stones, many for members of the Newman and Holdsworth families. Three good brasses stand to the right of the altar: the finest commemorates John Roope (died 1609), the others Dorothy Rous (died 1617) and Barbara Plumleigh (died 1610). The best mural monument, though somewhat worn, is reset at the east end of the south aisle and commemorates Edward Roope (died 1683)—an oval plaque with bayleaf frame and pulvinated frieze on Corinthian columns over carved console brackets. Each aisle contains a similar small, delicately carved and pedimented plaque: one to Nicholas Roope (died 1625) and the other to Margaret Plumleigh (died 1638).

The glass is principally of late 19th and early 20th-century date, though may incorporate earlier glass. Most comprises plain patterns of leaded glass with coats of arms; stained glass from 1927 fills the east window.

The church forms part of an important group of listed buildings at the mouth of the Dart estuary and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It probably originated as a navigational light positioned at the harbour entrance.