Church Of St Clement

Church of St Clement, Dartmouth

A parish church of Norman origins, basically dating from the early 14th century with a 15th or early 16th century tower. The building was restored between 1881 and 1885 by Ashford. It is constructed of local stone rubble with red sandstone, cream-coloured freestones, and granite dressings, beneath a slate roof fitted with pierced crested ridge tiles.

The church has a plan comprising a nave with north aisle, lower chancel, transepts, and west tower, with a small 19th century vestry added to the north of the chancel.

The exterior is dominated by a tall west tower that makes decorative use of different-coloured stone dressings. The tower has two stages with diagonal buttresses rising above an embattled parapet to crocketed finials, and on the south side a semi-octagonal stair turret. The belfry contains single and double lancets. The west doorway is a red sandstone two-centred arch containing a 19th century studded plank door with massive wrought-iron strap hinges, similar to doors found elsewhere in the church. Directly above this is a granite four-light window with Perpendicular tracery and a plain hoodmould. High on the south side of the tower is a plaque commemorating the church wardens of 1700.

The south side of the nave contains an inserted 19th century three-light window with intersecting Y-tracery, hoodmould, and uncarved block label stops. A 19th century south porch with a gabled roof has a two-centred outer arch with double chamfer and a door containing an ornamental cast-iron grille. All gables have coping and apex crosses. The transept windows display Decorated tracery, while the two windows on the south side of the chancel have Early English tracery with leafy capitals and nailhead ornament. The east end has a three-light window with ogival Perpendicular tracery set within the blocking of a much larger original window, with some of the moulded jambs exposed inside. The north transept has a triple lancet on its east side. The 19th century vestry is gabled in Early English style. The three-bay north side of the aisle is divided by buttresses and contains windows with Perpendicular tracery and a central doorway with a late 15th or 16th century granite Tudor arch with carved spandrels. Cast-iron rainwater goods date from the 19th century.

The interior features open wagon roofs with carved bosses in the nave, aisle, and transepts, all of 19th century date. The chancel has a ceiled wagon roof with smaller carved bosses, probably earlier in date. A tall plain tower arch with imposts and a plain chancel arch open the space. The early 14th century three-bay arcade, including the north transept, has octagonal piers with concave sides, shafts in the diagonals, and moulded capitals with shallow chamfers to the arches; the south transept arcade is similar. On the north side of the chancel is a large segmental arch to the organ, a two-centred arch doorway to the vestry, and an unusual eye-shaped squint framed with zigzag ornament. Piscinas with cusped ogee heads and shelves are present in the sanctuary and transepts. Various rere arches to the windows feature nailhead ornament on the 19th century windows of the south chancel and broad roll moulding to the nave windows. The walls are plastered and the floor is of stone flags with a couple of ledger stones and 19th century cast-iron grilles.

Among the fittings is an unusual restored 17th century oak altar table with a top supported on carved heraldic beasts. A 19th century timber communion rail in Gothic style, an oak Gothic pulpit dated 1874, and a matching lectern are present. Most stalls and benches are plain 19th century deal, though the chancel includes two good 19th century oak prayer desks carved with blind Perpendicular tracery. The Norman font has an octagonal bowl with shallow blind arcade, set on a new circular stem. Large timber boards in the chancel record charitable bequests from 1548 to 1885. A south transept screen dates from 1983 and was created by SG Scardifield.

The church contains several good monuments. The oldest is medieval and located under a low arch in the south transept—a very worn Purbeck marble recumbent figure in long robes. In the chancel is a large marble monument to Thomas Boone (died 1679) and his wife Dorothy (died 1657), with a plaque framed in carved buds and flowers rising to an heraldic cartouche before a double pediment, segmental in front and with swans neck profile, on Corinthian columns, surmounted by urns and a bottom shelf on fluted consoles with festoons and another cartouche. Nearby are two smaller 19th century marble monuments signed by Edward Wimser of Newton Abbot: one in memory of William Barber who died at sea in 1817, the other for members of the Banfill family who died between 1790 and 1825. Oval marble plaques on the south wall of the chancel commemorate Sophia Brown (died 1777) and Richard and Dorothy Pillar with their daughter Elizabeth (died 1814). The south transept contains further good monuments. An architectural plaque in memory of William Roope (died 1666) features Doric columns on a shelf with drapery between consoles, a moulded cornice above, and an heraldic achievement with remains of ancient colour. A particularly good marble monument to the 12-year-old Miss Mary Roope, described as "a young lady of promising expectations", is surmounted by a portrait medallion with putti holding open drapery to reveal it—an excellent unsigned work. Other notable monuments commemorate Charles Hayne (died 1842) with mourning mother and child by Denman of London, Jane Jodrell (died 1821) with sunburst, and Allin Gibbs (died 1838). A good brass with a figure in civilian dress and rhyming epitaph marks the memory of Robert Holland (died 1611).

The glazing in the east window is 19th century; the remainder is 20th century.