Church Of St Mary Abbotsbury

The Church of St Mary in Abbotsbury is a Free Perpendicular Gothic church built between 1904 and 1906, with the date 1905 marked on the rainwater heads. Designed by EH Sedding, it is constructed from rock-faced Devon limestone rubble with freestone dressings and a slate roof. The church has a cruciform plan.

A central east window, originally from St Mary's Chapel in Highweek Street, was incorporated; it features curvilinear star-shaped tracery, surrounded by crocketed niches and badges representing the Yarde and Ferrers families. Buttresses are gabled to the upper levels and weathered towards the base. Flying buttresses support octagonal plinths intended for conical-roofed turrets – only those at the front of the building were constructed. The nave has six bays and is punctuated by two-light traceried clerestory windows, above shallow pointed-arched three-light windows to the aisles. The north transept features a tall four-light window, while a timber belfry is present on its return. A pent-roofed baptistery with 20th-century doors is flanked by buttresses and broken niches and two trefoil-headed windows. The west window has swirling tracery, a style popularized by the architect’s uncle, JD Sedding.

Inside, the walls are smooth stone-faced, and the barrel-vaulted roof is panelled with foliate corbels. Pointed arches spring from deeply-chamfered piers with colonettes, connected by foliate bands at the impost level. The ceilings of the aisles have pointed stone arches, and the chancel features a pointed arch and a similar ceiling. An ornate crested rood screen with eight open panels separates the chancel from the nave, with a wide arch in the centre and two smaller panels on each side. Elaborately carved details are present on the crested reredos and the organ. A marble floor and communion rail with carved pierced panels complete the chancel furnishings. Sweeping stairs lead to a carved octagonal pulpit supported by eight columns with a crested tester. Other fittings include a font on a pedestal in the north aisle, an eagle lectern, and original four-light wrought-iron chandeliers. Stained glass is present in the east window and aisles, with other windows featuring subtle cobweb-pattern leading.