Church Of St Peter

DOWLAND DOWLAND SS 51 SE 5/104 Church of St Peter 4.10.60 GV I

Parish church. Some Norman fabric with C15 and early C16 additions, partially restored in 1876. Rubble walls, rendered to south side of nave and east end. Gable-ended slate roof. Plan: nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch and west tower. The fabric of the nave is probably Norman judging from the south doorway, the tower was added in the C15 and the north aisle in the early C16, the date of the south porch is uncertain and it may have been restored. Exterior: 3 stage crenellated west tower with crocketted pinnacles and 2-light granite belfry openings. Slits for stairs on north side. 4-centred granite west doorway with roll and hollow moulding and arched hoodmould. 3-light Perpendicular or granite west window which has had one mullion renewed. The west end of the aisle has a circa C16 late 2-light stone mullion window. On its north wall the aisle has 2 early C16 3-light segmental headed granite mullion windows with hoodmoulds and there is a similar window at its east end. The east window is 3-light Early English style, probably a restoration. C20 priest's doorway to south side of chancel. On south side of nave is C14 style partly restored window with a traceried square head. Plain gabled south porch with round-headed doorway. Interior is most remarkable for its oak 3-bay arcade of which only one other exists in Devon (Nymet Rowland). It has partly restored 4-centred chamfered arches and Persner A-type piers although that at the west end is circular and of stone. There is no chancel arch and the tower arch is plain and pointed. C16 carved bench ends survive fairly complete to the nave and aisle, except at the rear, their designs include the motifs of the Stafford and Kellaway families. The old wagon roofs with moulded ribs and carved bosses have been partly restored. The chancel roof is plastered. Very small roughly octagonal late medieval font on C20 base. C19 or early C20 pulpit. Various slate memorials survive, mainly from the 1st half of the C17 to members of the Stafford family. The porch has an arch-braced roof which may be early. Narrow roundheaded Norman south doorway which has been plastered. The internal walls are plastered. Source: Beatrix Cresswell: Churches in the Deanery of Tarrington; White's Directory 1878.

Listing NGR: SS5680510310