Church Of St George

Church of St George

This parish church dates from the 15th century and was thoroughly restored and possibly partly rebuilt in 1856. It is constructed of Heavitree brecchia with the tower in ashlar and the remainder snecked, with freestone dressings and a slate roof. The church is in Perpendicular style with some 19th-century Decorated windows.

The plan comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south transepts, and a south-west porch. Dr. Oliver considered that the church was originally a domestic chapel, enlarged in the late 15th century. The tower bears the arms of Sir William Huddesfield (died 1499), Attorney General. 19th-century sources refer to a very thorough rebuilding: an 1843 description mentions a "projecting aisle on the north about 9 feet square" and it seems possible that the south transept was added and most of the nave and chancel were rebuilt in 1856. The north transept, which has no plinth and a stone rubble base, is probably medieval in origin.

The chancel has a 3-light Decorated 19th-century east window with a hoodmould, a 1-light 19th-century cinquefoil-headed window with hoodmould on the south side, and no windows on the north side. The nave has 2 19th-century Decorated windows on the north side and 1 on the south side. The north transept has a 2-light probably medieval Decorated window and a picturesque 19th-century chimney stack with asymmetrical set-offs, an octagonal shaft and coped cap. The south transept has a 2-light Decorated window.

The 2-stage battlemented west tower, which has no pinnacles, features a polygonal south-east stair turret rising above the tower proper, with a parapet. The parapet and tower battlementing are largely replacements. There is a shallow-moulded bellringers' opening on the south side, 2-light chamfered belfry openings on the east, west and south sides, and a clock on the north side. The west face of the tower has a shallow-moulded doorway and 19th-century door with studs and strap hinges, and a 3-light Perpendicular west window with a hoodmould. The window is flanked by armorial bearings—the arms of Courtenay and Huddesfield on carved shields below hoodmoulds. Above the west window the string course rises as an additional hoodmould above a similar shield showing Huddesfield impaled by Courtenay with boar and dolphin supporters on either side. Fragments of inscribed carved scrolls survive above the coats of arms.

The gabled porch has a probably 19th-century arched chamfered outer doorway with bar stops. The interior has a 19th-century roof, stone benches with wooden seats, and a medieval volcanic trap inner doorway with shallow moulding. A fine 15th or 16th-century plank and stud door retains an iron ring with a back plate.

Interior

There is no chancel arch. The walls are plastered. Chamfered arches open into the transepts and tower. An unceiled wagon roof with moulded principal members and large foliage bosses is present; the bosses are re-used but much of the rest has been replaced.

The chancel contains mid-19th-century painted communion boards (tin), a 19th-century piscina, good altar rails and tiling. The nave has some 16th-century bench ends carved with foliage and tracery. The font has an octagonal bowl on a stem; the bowl, decorated with heraldry, may have been recut in the 19th century, as is the date of the tall pyramidal crocketted font cover. The 19th-century lectern re-uses some 17th-century woodwork. The door into the tower turret is probably 15th-century: a 2-plank studded door in a chamfered, stopped doorway.

The chancel contains a particularly interesting monument to Sir William Huddesfield (died 1499): a Purbeck marble tomb chest in a chamfered arched recess has a brass shield with the bearings of Huddesfield and Courtenay. The lid of the chest is probably a replacement or re-cutting of the original. Above the chest a small square brass shows Sir William with his wife and children kneeling beneath depressed ogee arches.

Other memorials of interest include a brass wall plaque with a rustic inscription commemorating John Seaman, died 1664. A wall tablet in the north transept commemorates John Whiting, died 1726, with an eccentric verse: "Here under Whiting lays troubles now cease/we hope he's gon to everlasting peace".

15th-century armorial stained glass in the chancel has been carefully restored, probably by Drake of Exeter. Other stained glass is by Beer of Exeter.