Church Of Saint Mary

This parish church preserves substantial fabric from the 12th century, including the nave and a south tower, with a 14th-century chancel. The nave was altered and the south tower truncated in the 15th century, when a north aisle, south porch and west tower were added. The chancel was probably altered in the early 16th century. A restoration was carried out between 1876 and 1891 at a cost of £900.

The building is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble (the south tower and south wall of the nave and chancel are cement rendered) with ashlar dressings, mostly limestone but some granite. The roofs are gable-ended and covered with Welsh slate, with separate coverings over the nave and aisle. The west tower is built of dressed sandstone with ashlar dressings.

Historical Development

The 12th-century church comprised a nave and transeptal south tower, with evidence suggesting there was also a 12th-century chancel (visible in the jamb of the former chancel arch). The chancel was rebuilt and possibly enlarged in the 14th century. In the 15th century the nave was remodelled and several major additions were made: a south porch, a four-bay north aisle with a two-bay north aisle chapel, and a west tower. The 15th-century north aisle incorporates a reused 12th-century nave north doorway. The south tower was probably truncated when the west tower was built. This north aisle extends the full length of the nave and chancel and probably replaced an earlier north-aisle chapel, traces of which survive in the probably 14th-century two-bay north arcade to the chancel. The chancel was probably altered again in the early 16th century, as evidenced by the south windows.

The surviving remains—including the chancel arch, a blocked south window west of the south doorway, and the former south tower—suggest that the 12th-century church was a substantial building and that the present nave incorporates much 12th-century fabric in its south wall.

Exterior

The three-stage west tower has a hollow-chamfered plinth, diagonal buttresses with offsets, offset string courses, a parapet string, and a battlemented parapet with moulded coping and square corner piers with crocketed pinnacles. The belfry openings are louvred and square-headed, each of two cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled spandrels and returned hoodmoulds. The second stage has a one-light trefoil-headed window to the east with returned cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and a returned hoodmould with a dressed-stone relieving arch above. The 15th-century west doorway has a continuously moulded archway (the left-hand reveal was rebuilt in the late 20th century) and a pair of 20th-century plank doors. Small rectangular windows light the newel stair in the north-west corner of the tower, positioned in the angle of the buttress. A clock is set below the belfry opening on the east face.

The nave has a pair of restored 15th-century south windows, each of three stepped cinquefoil-headed lights with moulded reveals. A raking buttress stands at the left-hand (west) end of the nave wall. Between the south windows is a 12th-century round-arched doorway with chamfered jambs, chamfered impost blocks, one order of shafts with carved foliate capitals and imposts breaking forward above, and a round arch decorated with beakhead, chevron and dogtooth ornament (including the hoodmould). The tympanum is rendered and painted with a trefoil. The door is late 19th-century with four chamfered panels. A 12th-century carved corbel head to the left of the arch was probably formerly a hoodmould stop (there is space for a former stop to the right as well). Evidence of ancient colour survives on the south doorway.

The 15th-century porch has a pointed-arched entrance with a pair of 19th- or 20th-century plank doors and chamfered wooden jambs. Note the rings for the insertion of poles to keep out animals. Inside, the porch has a 15th-century barrel roof with chamfered ribs, carved bosses and chamfered wall plates with carved shields. The walls are rendered and the floor is laid with 19th-century encaustic tiles. A small wooden fixed seat stands in one corner (with two fragments of old carved stone below at the time of survey in January 1988). A 12th-century pillar piscina stood in the porch at the time of survey, consisting of a circular pillar with a cushion capital and a 19th-century base.

The truncated south tower, now serving as the vestry, has a 14th-century (or 17th-century) hollow-chamfered two-light south window with curved Y-tracery and a returned hoodmould. The east front has two 12th-century chamfered round-arched lancets, the smaller one positioned in the apex of the gable above and probably formerly lighting the second stage of the 12th-century tower.

The chancel has a parapeted gable end with 19th-century coping and a cross at the apex. On the south side of the chancel is a probably 16th-century square-headed window to the right, of two cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled spandrels and a returned hoodmould with carved head stops. To the left is a 19th-century (or restored) square-headed window of three cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled spandrels and a hoodmould with carved head stops. A central 14th-century continuously-chamfered arched south doorway has a hoodmould and a 19th-century plank door with decorative strap hinges. Later (possibly 15th- or 16th-century) small buttresses flank the doorway. The 15th-century east window is of granite (with 20th-century limestone mullions), of three cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, chamfered reveals and a returned hoodmould.

The four-bay north aisle has restored 15th-century windows of three cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals and returned hoodmoulds. Between the second and third windows from the west (opposite the south door) is a blocked 12th-century north doorway with chamfered imposts, a chamfered round arch with inscribed lines, and a solid tympanum. The restored west window is of three cinquefoil-headed lights with hollow-chamfered reveals, a returned hoodmould and a dressed stone arch above.

The two-bay north aisle chapel has restored 15th-century north windows, each of three cinquefoil-headed lights with moulded reveals and cusped panelled tracery with mullions running up into the head. The 15th-century east window (restored) is of three cinquefoil-headed lights with moulded reveals, panelled tracery and a returned hoodmould. Below is a blocked former east doorway with a dressed-stone chamfered segmental-pointed arch.

Interior

Evidence of the former 12th-century church includes the right-hand jamb of the former chancel arch in the south wall between the present nave and chancel. This consists of a shaft with a leaf capital and the lower voussoirs of a former round arch. The south doorway has a 12th-century round rear arch, and to the right (west) of the south doorway are remains of a probable former 12th-century south window with a dressed stone jamb and voussoirs of the right-hand side of a former arch.

The 15th-century four-bay north aisle arcade consists of Pevsner type-A piers with capitals only to the main shafts and diamond bases, and four-centred moulded arches. The nave south windows have splayed jambs and ovolo-moulded rear arches dying into the jambs. A pointed archway leads to the vestry (former south tower). In the south wall of the vestry is a pointed-arched piscina, and the vestry has a restored or 19th-century waggon roof. There is said to be the remains of an old spiral staircase in the truncated south tower but this was not noted at the time of survey in January 1988.

The 14th-century two-bay north chapel arcade consists of octagonal piers with moulded capitals and hollow-chamfered arches. The east window has splayed jambs and a chamfered rear arch dying into the jambs. The south-east chancel window has splayed jambs and a chamfered Tudor-arched rear arch, while the south-west chancel window has splayed jambs and a 19th-century chamfered stone lintel. The south doorway has a chamfered rear arch.

The 14th-century triple sedilia consists of hollow-chamfered ogee trefoil-headed arches with broach stops and a continuous chamfered stone seat. The 14th-century piscina is hollow-chamfered and ogee cinquefoil-headed with broach stops and a projecting circular shelf with a quatrefoil bowl.

The 15th-century tower arch is double-chamfered and dies into the jambs. The 15th-century west window has an ovolo-moulded hoodmould. The nave has a 15th-century waggon roof with chamfered ribs and carved bosses, and a wall plate with carved shields supported on four stone corbels above the vestry archway. The chancel has a 15th-century waggon roof with moulded ribs, carved bosses and moulded wall plates. The north aisle also has a 15th-century waggon roof with moulded ribs, carved bosses and a chamfered wall plate with brattishing. The walls are rendered. The chancel and north aisle have 19th-century encaustic tiles.

Fittings

The elaborate late 19th-century carved wooden reredos incorporates reused old carved panels, possibly lower panels from a former 15th- or 16th-century screen, and short sections of reused vine trails. The early 17th-century Communion table has turned legs (the front ones carved), carved rails to the front and sides, and a 19th-century top. Late 19th-century wrought-iron altar rails are provided.

The late 19th-century choir stalls incorporate late-medieval and 16th-century bench ends, with one at the rear of the north side said to be 13th-century. Frontals installed in 1905, carved with processions of animals, commemorate Robert and Siddie Greenwood Penny. The late 19th-century octagonal wooden pulpit, removed from Exeter in 1942, has well carved panels and ribs. The late 19th-century wooden eagle lectern bears a brass plate inscribed in memory of Harriet Bending, who died 19 December 1893.

The church possesses a very fine series of about 70 mainly 15th- and 16th-century (and some 19th-century) benches. The bench ends are well carved, with the late-medieval examples featuring traceried patterns, heraldic devices and carved figures of saints, while the 16th-century benches display Renaissance motifs including foliage and profiles in medallions. The benches have moulded and carved tops, heavy book rests and chamfered supports to the seats. Remains of an 18th-century box pew at the west end of the nave survive, with a carved panel on the door inscribed "R P" and an heraldic device. This pew now forms part of the boxed-in angle between the arcade and tower.

The 12th-century stone font has a square base, a circular stem with rope-moulded base, and a bowl shaped like a large block capital. The bowl has semi-circular faces inscribed with wheels, rosettes and crosses. It retains an old lead lining and has a 20th-century wooden cover. A late 17th-century wooden railed enclosure on two sides, possibly former Communion rails, has turned balusters and turned newels with finials.

An old oak parish chest is probably 13th- or 14th-century and has three locks. A later iron parish chest bears superscribed lettering: "HIGH BICKINGTON/W.P. STAWELL RECTOR/AD 1813". Two halves of probably 17th-century carved timber, possibly the front of a former gallery demolished in 1860, are carved with dragons and a shield to the centre. One half is reused as a bench end and one half stands at the west end of the north aisle. Also at the east end of the north aisle at the time of survey was a well-carved bench end or possibly part of a former screen, with two figures of saints or kings.

A late 19th- or early 20th-century wooden screen to the vestry (former tower) was made by H. Reade of Exeter. A late 16th- or 17th-century Communion table in the vestry was not inspected at the time of survey. A late 19th-century wooden screen closes the tower arch. A large late 19th-century organ stands at the east end of the north aisle.

The bells comprise four cast in 1753, with one recast in 1827 and three in 1911. Late 19th-century stained glass is installed in the east window and south-west window of the chancel.

Monuments

On the north wall of the chancel is a tablet to Joshua Tucker, who died in 1705. Made of stone and marble, it consists of a central convex oval slate or marble inscribed panel with carved spandrels, flanking pilasters and scrolls with fruit and flower drops. Below is a gadrooned base with scrolled brackets flanking a pair of winged cherubs' heads. Above is a moulded cornice with a central painted shield and much carved wheat, flowers, fruit and so on. A small piece is missing on top, possibly one of the fragments at the east end of the north aisle.

Historical Context

A grant was made for a priest at High Bickington in the 10th century. Saint Mary's Church is particularly notable for its large collection of 15th- and 16th-century carved bench ends.