Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This is a parish church of early 14th-century date, dedicated by Bishop Stapeldon in 1318, with a 19th-century vestry added later. The building was repaired around 1845, the chancel was restored in 1866, and the entire church underwent repair under the auspices of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1912, carried out by William Weir.

The church is constructed of stone with roughcast rendering, except for the south porch which is of stone rubble. All roofs are slated. The plan comprises a nave, chancel, north and south transepts, a west tower, a south porch, and a vestry positioned at the east side of the north transept.

The nave has two late 19th-century windows in medieval style on each side. At the west end of the north face is a chamfered doorway with a two-centred arch and hood-mould. The south transept features late 19th-century Perpendicular windows of three lights in both the east and south walls, and has probably 19th-century buttresses at the south end of both the east and west walls. The north transept contains a similar north window but has a medieval window with a two-centred head in the east wall, which is blocked and shows no visible tracery. The chancel has 14th-century windows on both the north and south sides, each with a two-centred head and two lights with pointed arches. The south side has a similar window to the left at a lower level, heavily restored externally. There is a priest's door with a moulded surround and two-centred arch. The east window has a two-centred arch and three lights with intersecting tracery.

The west tower is tapering with two stages and has a projecting stone plinth with a string course above each stage and battlements at the top. The west face features a moulded doorway with a rounded head. Above this is a three-light window with a two-centred arch and intersecting tracery. The belfry openings have two lights with two-centred arches on each side; the lights have two-centred arches except those in the east face, which match the north and south chancel windows. Weatherings indicate the former presence of an older, much steeper nave roof. On the north side is a diamond-shaped clockface with gilt lettering and a single hand; an information sheet in the church states that the clock dial dates from 1730 and was restored in 1968. A weather vane sits above the tower on curved iron supports.

The south porch is gabled with 19th-century coping and a cross. The inner doorway is moulded with a two-centred arch. It contains a good pair of 19th-century wooden gates imitating 14th-century tracery with wooden grilles instead of panels.

Internally, both transepts and the tower have double-chamfered imposts. The chancel contains a piscina with a trefoiled head in the south wall. In the north wall, partially cut into by a 19th-century vestry doorway, is a large crude quatrefoil-shaped window. To its left is the upper doorway of the former stair to the roof screen, which is chamfered with a two-centred arch. The nave, chancel and transepts all retain old wagon-roofs with moulded ribs.

The church contains several notable fittings. There is a Norman font of pink sandstone with palmette decoration. A wooden screen crosses the opening to the north transept (previously across the south transept and thought to have been brought from Dartington old church). This screen has five openings with two-centred heads having quatrefoils and darts in the spandrels; each opening, except the centre doorway which has only the head-tracery, contains three ogee-headed lights with plain panels below.

In the west wall of the south transept is a grey and white marble monument to Joseph Taylor, esquire (died 1732), signed by John Weston. It consists of an obelisk with a man's head in profile surrounded by cannon, an anchor and other naval equipment. Below is a low-relief panel depicting a three-masted ship engaging four-oared galleys.

The belfry was not inspected during the survey but is reported to contain a bell of 1631 and a bell of 1633.