Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

An Anglican parish church of mixed medieval and 19th-century date, with significant early work. The tower dates to the mid-15th century. The church stands on the east side of North Road in Holsworthy and reflects the town's historical importance as a market centre.

The building is constructed of local stone, squared and coursed, with Hatherleigh stone dressings and a two-tone slate roof with decorative ridge tiles and coped verges to the south aisle and porch. The tower is built of local stone with squared and coursed granite buttresses.

The plan comprises a chancel, nave, north aisle, south aisle with organ loft, and a west tower. The three-stage crenellated tower features four crocketed pinnacles, setback buttresses terminating in crockets, three-light louvred bell-openings, a lancet on the south front below a clock face (dated 1867), and a four-light west window with cill and lower section cut off. The west door has a four-centred arch with hoodmould and labels. A carillon was added to the tower in 1875, and one pinnacle was replaced during restoration in 1890.

The south aisle has buttressed three-light windows and lit gable ends, with a gabled porch at the end bay to the left. The porch features a pointed arch opening with rosettes to the reveals and a decorative ogee surround with blind niches, along with a wrought iron double gate and ribbed barrel vaulted roof. A Norman style round-headed opening with zig-zag decoration and a Norman colonnette on the west side survives from an earlier church. The east wall has a blocked arched recess for a holy water stoup, and the west wall displays a Norman capital of a colonnette with a carved panel above depicting the Agnus Dei, thought to be the centre of a tympanum.

The buttressed chancel has a lancet on its south side and a five-light east window. The north front features two two-light windows, and the north aisle has three-light windows with lit gable ends and three windows on the north front.

The interior is rendered. A 19th-century painted and ceiled wagon roof with angels on corbels covers the nave, with archbraced roofs to the nave and aisles. A Perpendicular tower arch with decorative capitals opens to a space glazed in the 20th century. The tower stair has a chamfered depressed arch-head. A 19th-century chancel arch is carried on marble colonnettes with foliage capitals, corbelled out. The 19th-century arcades feature octagonal piers and double chamfered pointed arches.

19th-century fittings include encaustic tiles in the chancel by Maw & Co., a font purchased in 1888, a pulpit in memory of John Aspinall (died 1904), and a reredos of 1926. The organ is said to have been made by Renatus Harris and to have come from Chelsea Old Church. It was removed to Bideford in 1723 and brought to Holsworthy in 1865, when it was restored and enlarged with decorative panels. In 1926 it was overhauled and reduced in size.

Monuments include a fine tomb slab to Theophilus Dennis (died 1696) with an unusual Celtic knot design, a convex slate roundel to Humphrey Saunders, rector (died 1670), set in a square moulded surround with putti, and a tablet to Richard Kingdom (died 1816) signed by J. Kendall of Exeter.

Stained glass includes a west window to the north aisle by Bell (1876), and the east window and north chancel window by Lavers and Westlake (circa 1882).

The church's development reflects Holsworthy's history. The Norman church was rebuilt in the 13th century, reflecting the town's prosperity as a market centre. The medieval church fell into a ruinous condition and was restored in 1808, when round-headed wooden sash windows were inserted. Further restorations occurred in 1858 and 1865.

The major 1880s restoration was undertaken when the chancel was rebuilt (1880–2), the nave porch was rebuilt (1883), and the north aisle was added (1883). The south aisle capitals were raised at this time. The architect was Otho B. Peter of Launceston, and the roof carvings were executed by John Northcott of Ashwater. The work was in the Early English style. This comprehensive restoration swept away the modifications of the earlier 19th-century interventions.