Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Broadhempston

A parish church of major importance, comprising a 13th-century chancel that was considerably rebuilt, with the main body dating from the 15th century. The church underwent major restorations in 1876-7, 1896-8 under the architect Sedding, and again in 1903.

The exterior walls are rendered rubble, with the tower and west end in roughcast. The nave, aisles and porch are covered with gable-ended slate roofs, all topped with coping stones and kneelers. The chancel, rebuilt in the 19th century, displays Early English style, whilst the nave, aisles, west tower and porch are Perpendicular in character, with the tower possibly pre-dating the nave.

A shallow chamfered plinth runs around the aisles and porch but not the chancel or tower. The west tower rises in two stages, the second considerably shorter, and is battlemented at the top. The west doorway features volcanic stone with a four-centred arch showing worn roll and hollow moulding beneath a hoodmould, with a double relieving arch above. The west window is a late 19th or early 20th-century Perpendicular restoration also with a double relieving arch. Single light arched windows appear on the north west and south sides, whilst the second stage contains two-light belfry openings with arched heads on each side. In the corner between the tower and north aisle stands a stair projection with two very small square-headed openings.

The aisle windows had their tracery replaced during the 1896-8 restoration, though otherwise remain original. Intermediate buttresses and set-back buttresses occupy the east corners of each aisle. On the north aisle, the buttress between the two most westerly windows incorporates a so-called 'devils door' used during baptism, marked by a projecting stone arched surround. Between the two most easterly windows of the north aisle is a shallow bulge for the rood stairs. The north and south chancel windows are late 19th-century replacements in Early English style, with two lights and plate tracery. The east window is probably contemporary, with three lights and intersecting tracery. The second window from the left on the south aisle features carved head-stops to its hoodmould. A plain porch sits at the west end of the south aisle, with a simple stone arched doorway.

Interior

The porch retains its original barrel ceiling with moulded ribs and carved bosses and wall-plates. The south doorway has a chamfered four-centred granite arch with cushion stops. Stone seats on either side are probably later additions. A holy water stoup is set into the north wall of the porch.

The nave contains a five-bay arcade on either side with Beer-stone Pevsner Type A piers that have been raised on rough square stone bases, presumably because they were originally insufficient in height. Each pier bears carved foliage capitals, all different, with the left-hand northern example also displaying the face of a man, reputedly the Green Man. The moulding on the piers continues round the four-centred arches. A very tall pointed voussoir stone tower arch spans two rows with plain jambs. To its right is a chamfered stone doorway with ogee head leading to the tower staircase, with a small lancet window above lighting the stairs. Original chamfered rear arches survive to the windows. There is no chancel arch.

The sanctuary is narrower than both the chancel and nave. In the south wall of the chancel is a piscina and Sedilia in three sections, each with a chamfered pointed arch stone surround. The barrel ceiling to the nave appears to be a complete restoration dating from around 1896-8. The barrel ceilings to the aisles have also been restored but largely re-use original moulded ribs, carved bosses and wall-plates which still retain some of their original colour. In 1880 the chancel was given a new roof, though some of the old moulded timbers appear to have been re-used in the sanctuary.

A 15th-century rood screen of Pevsner Type B extends across the nave and both aisles, featuring Perpendicular tracery above panels divided by cinquefoil-headed lights with quatrefoils below. The original doors survive, though the screen was heavily restored in 1903 when the cornice and coving were completely renewed. Rood stairs survive on the north wall with original doorways. Late 15th-century parclose screens to north and south both display Perpendicular tracery with ogee-headed doorways and battlements at the top.

Eighteenth-century fielded panel wainscotting lines the walls of each aisle. A 15th-century octagonal Beer stone font features carved panels with crossed key and sword decoration, its soffit carved with cinquefoil-headed panels and the pedestal with round-headed panels.

In 1877 a gallery at the west end was removed. The church was re-seated in 1876 by J Chudleigh. The pulpit dates from 1903.

The floor contains several ledger-stones: in the north aisle two slate examples dated 1642 and 1712; in the south aisle one dated 1647 and one of 1643, with another further down the aisle carved with skull and crossbones and dated 1703. The chancel floor retains several 17th and 18th-century ledger-stones. On the north wall of the chancel is an elaborate slate memorial to Robert Warreying and his wife Ellinor, each name enclosed in a circle with clasped hands joining the two. Dated 1654 and 1656, it bears a good rhyming epitaph beneath.

The only surviving fragment of old glass is in the most westerly window of the south aisle, bearing the armorial shield of John Rowe who died in 1544. Rowe was Lord of the Manor of Sparkwell, Kingston and Staverton, which at that time included much of Broadhempston.