Church Of St Peter And St Paul And St Thomas Of Canterbury

Church of St Peter and St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury

This is a parish church of 15th-century date with a 14th-century tower, located at Bovey Tracey. A second north aisle was added in 1858 under the direction of William Slater, and a vestry and boiler house were constructed in the 19th century. The church was restored in 1858 and again in 1887–8.

The building is constructed of granite and slatestone rubble with granite dressings; most window detail is in limestone. The boiler house is of yellow brick. The roofs are slated. In 1836 the roof featured dormer windows, which were presumably removed during the 1858 restoration. The plan comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, two north aisles, a west tower, a south porch, and a vestry and boiler room at the east end of the north aisles.

The south aisle has Perpendicular windows of 4 lights in its south wall, all apparently 19th-century restorations. The east and west windows are of 3 lights and may be partly original Perpendicular. The north windows of the north aisle are similar to those on the south. The 1858 intention was to re-use the windows of the medieval north aisle and repair them in Caen stone, although the extent to which this was carried out is unclear. The east and west windows of the two north aisles appear to be 19th-century Perpendicular, except for the east window of the medieval north aisle, which seems to be original Perpendicular with 3 cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights, although its lower part has been blocked. The north and south chancel windows are similar, apparently with original head-tracery, as is the 5-light east window. The south aisle has buttresses flanking the windows and is finished with a crenellated parapet enriched with quatrefoil panels. The medieval north aisle appears to have been similarly treated, with a plain crenellated parapet surviving at its east and west ends. Each of the two medieval aisles has a 5-sided, crenellated stair turret at the outer corner of its west end. The chancel and south aisle have clasping buttresses at their east ends.

In the south wall is a priest's door, ogee and hollow-moulded with a 2-centred head. The south porch has an enriched crenellated parapet with a pinnacle on each outer corner, beneath each of which is a gargoyle carved with the arms of Stawell and Forbes respectively. The outer doorway is a 19th-century restoration, but the inner doorway is medieval, of heavily moulded and enriched limestone with a 2-centred head. The wooden roof of the porch has heavy, intersecting moulded beams with carved bosses at the intersections; in the centre is a boss with a cluster of 4 heads. Flanking the top of the inner doorway are two moulded limestone corbels. Lower down on the right is a holy water stoup with an ogee head. In the east wall is a plaque inscribed 'The Floor of this Porch new laid, & gate made, Anno Dom 1710'. The present iron gates are 20th-century.

The tower is in 3 stages, each tapered and slightly narrower than the one below. In the west face of the lowest stage is a round-arched, hollow-moulded granite doorway set high up, presumably as a result of the ground level being altered. Above it is a 3-light granite window with intersecting tracery, which appears to be a complete restoration. The second stage has a slit window at its base on the north, south and west sides, the south window having a pointed head. Above the slits on the south and west sides is a large black clock-face with gilded detail. The third stage (belfry) has 2 tiers of openings in each face. The lower openings are of 2 lights with pointed heads, the south and west openings having the lights set under a 2-centred arch. The upper openings have paired, shouldered-head lights, appearing contemporary with the oversailing battlemented parapet and finials, all of which are 19th-century.

Interior

The nave and chancel have unbroken arcades of 5 arches with diamond-shaped piers in section, each with a shaft attached to each point and wave mouldings in between. The capitals are foliated with several different designs, the half-columns within the chancel having undercut foliage. The arches are 2-centred with ogee, wave, quarter-round and hollow mouldings. The 5 arches of the 1858 north arcade are copies of the original work. The south door has a segmental rear arch, hollow-moulded and enriched with 4-leaved flowers. A chapel at the east end of the south aisle has a trefoil-headed piscina in its south wall. A fragment of foliated masonry in the south wall of the chancel may be the remnant of another piscina.

The nave and chancel have a wagon-roof; the older aisles have flat roofs with intersecting moulded beams. All three roofs have large carved bosses. According to the 1858 contract the roofs were to have been rebuilt, but the bosses may have been re-used. The 1858 north aisle has an arch-braced roof. A drawing of 1857 shows the nave roof with a ceilure above the rood screen.

Fittings include an octagonal Beer stone font, the shaft decorated with trefoil-headed panels and the bowl with quatrefoils, and a wooden font cover of circa 1660 in the form of an 8-sided pyramid with a large finial on top. A 5-sided stone pulpit of medieval work is richly carved with foliage trails separating 2-tier panels of niches containing figures; 20th-century paint may cover ancient colours, and the base is probably 19th-century.

A late 15th-century brass lectern, believed to be East Anglian work, consists of a large eagle with wings outstretched standing on a moulded pillar with 3 small lions at the foot. The eagle's claws were restored in 1912. A 15th-century timber rood screen across the nave and old aisles was restored in 1887, when the missing vaulting was made, and again in 1910. The dado has an almost complete set of painted figures in ogee-headed cinquefoil panels (those of the chancel doors being late 19th-century or early 20th-century). The open tracery above is of Pevsner's 'Type A'. The trail enrichment of the loft is believed to be ancient in part. With the exception of the figures, visible paint is circa 1910, but may conceal some ancient colour.

Parclose screens of the first half of the 16th century have two ogee-headed cinquefoil lights with doorways at the east end and doors of 1907 (inscribed). On the south side of the chancel, against the parclose screen, are 3 medieval stalls with misericords. At the east end of the 1858 aisle is an organ with painted pipes, installed in 1887–8.

Monuments

On the north side of the chancel is the monument to Nicholas Eveleigh (d.1618) in white limestone. It consists of a figure propped up on one elbow; beneath it an ornately carved chest, above it a high round arch flanked by Corinthian columns. Immediately above the figure is a tablet carved with the inscription '1620 ID'. On the south side of the chancel is the monument of Elizaeus Hele (d.1636) in alabaster. Similar in design to Eveleigh's monument but with less ornate detail; the flanking columns are of grey marble. On the front of the chest are the kneeling figures of his son and 2 wives. The floor of the nave and aisles contains several good 17th-century ledger slabs.