Church Of St Michael And All Angels

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is a large medieval parish church with a complex building history shaped by both gradual evolution and catastrophic events. The east end and eastern half of the nave are largely Perpendicular work from the 15th or early 16th century, while the base of the south transept reportedly contains some fabric as early as the 13th century. The church suffered devastating damage in February 1646 during the English Civil War when a Royalist gunpowder store exploded, killing about 200 men and leaving the building ruinous. The western end was rebuilt between 1646 and 1651. The tower was added in 1828 by W.B. Cock, and the chancel was lengthened with a general restoration around 1861 by William White. Internal reordering beneath the tower was carried out by Michael Willis in 2008.

The church is built of mixed local rubble stones with limestone dressings and slate roofs. It comprises a four-bay nave with aisles, a two-bay chancel with flanking vestries, substantial north and south transepts at the third bay of the aisles, a south-west porch, and a west tower.

Exterior

The west tower features grey ashlar facing arranged in three stages with battlements and pinnacles, surmounted by a slim spire rising from within the parapet. It has angle buttresses, two-light bell openings, a lozenge panel in the second stage for a clock face, and a large west window above a doorway. The aisle walls are partly medieval and partly 17th century, with rebuilding around 1861. Parapets appear only on the tower and south vestry. All window tracery to the nave, aisles and chancel is Geometric work by William White from around 1861, replacing earlier plain 17th or 18th century mullions. The south-west porch, also by White, is in Early English style.

The west face of the south transept bears a plaque inscribed "THIS CHURCH WAS BLOWEN UP WITH POWDER FEBR. YE 16th ANO. 1645 AND REBUILT Ao. 1651", while another on its east wall reads "THIS CHURCH WAS RE-ERECTED ANO. DOMINI 1651". In the return between the chancel and south aisle stands a fine early 16th century vestry with square-headed windows featuring cusped ogee lights with cusped roundels in the spandrels. Its exaggerated battlements are deeply carved with two tiers of quatrefoils containing shields. This structure may originally have served as a private chapel. The chancel projects strongly between the aisles and was lengthened by one bay during the restoration around 1861.

Interior

The eastern piers of the nave arcades are Perpendicular work of lozenge plan with four shafts and wave mouldings in the diagonals (described by Pevsner as the standard Devon 'type B' pier). Their frieze-like capitals feature substantial leafy bands, with one or two examples showing more delicate vine carving. The arches continue the moulding pattern of the piers. Two south arcade piers—the eastern respond and the next pier westward—contain between them three Perpendicular statuary niches, probably associated with medieval altars and defaced at the Reformation.

At the west end of the nave are three coarse square piers with chamfered angles. Some have on their east and west faces block- or cushion-shaped corbels outlined with roll mouldings (probably 17th century work), from which rise double-chamfered arches. Their positions correspond with the projected direction of blast from the former tower base. The roofs are of wagon-vault form with large square panels and bosses, possibly dating from around 1646-50 with later repairs.

The chancel floors are patterned tiles, probably Minton products from around 1861. The nave and aisles have boarding beneath the benches and stone flagged walkways with tiled borders. A west gallery with kitchen and toilets was created beneath the tower in 2008 by architect Michael Willis.

Principal Fixtures

The church contains an exceptionally refined oak pulpit dating from around 1670-90, with paired Corinthian colonnettes at the angles, a moulded arched panel to each face, and a dentil cornice above a frieze of richly gilded carved scroll work featuring lion masks and cherubs' heads. Its matching tester has a similar gilded frieze. This tester was removed from the church around 1861, acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and loaned back in 1960.

The stone and marble reredos from 1878 includes a relief of the Last Supper by sculptor Harry Hems. An octagonal font from 1914 is fashioned from red-veined marble with richly carved quatrefoil panels and has an oak font cover in open swept spire form. A hanging rood from 1920 was installed here in 2002 from St Oswald, Small Heath, Birmingham.

The Willis Organ dating from 1864 came from Sherwell Congregational church, Plymouth, and was installed here around 1989. It sits in a very large and elaborate Gothic case with pinnacles and crocketed gable. An oak tower screen by Herbert Reed, dedicated in 1928, was incorporated into the 2008 gallery.

The south transept chapel was refitted in 1938 with a 17th century communion table, Neo-Perpendicular oak reredos, and a 19th century oil painting by Catherine Doe copying Caravaggio's Ecce Homo.

Among the monuments, the chancel north wall displays a memorial to Sarah Gooding who died in 1698, an elaborate and somewhat provincial Baroque tablet with busty caryatids. In the south chapel, Judith Hancock who died in 1676 is commemorated with a more refined design featuring an oval plaque in a leafy frame, Corinthian columns and segmental pediment.

Pine benches date from around 1861. Thirteen windows contain stained glass, mainly late 19th century. Four are by Lavers & Barraud, probably including the large five-light east window and one beneath the tower. Later glass, such as a four-light Crucifixion from around 1893, is typical of that period.

Setting

The church sits immediately north of the town centre. An alley leads from the High Street into the south-east corner of a large, densely-planted churchyard lined on the south side with cottages resembling a village green. Paths are attractively paved with local pebbles and dated "1813 WBC". South-east of the church stands a large cobbled mound, reputedly the burial place of those killed in the 1646 explosion.

Historical Context

The first recorded rector dates from 1259, though a dispute over the advowson occurred in 1194, and the Saxon settlement doubtless had its parish church. The destroyed south tower and broach spire were probably 14th century, with significant renewal in the 15th century.

In February 1646, the church suffered one of the notable incidents of the English Civil War. Fairfax's Parliamentary forces, driving the Royalists into Cornwall, captured Torrington in a night assault from Hopton's Royalists. About 200 men—mainly Parliamentarian troops who had been captured—were killed when the Royalist gunpowder store was set alight. Fairfax narrowly escaped death. This marked the end of the First Civil War in the west. The resulting explosion and fire left the church ruinous until its repair in 1651.

The question of how much fabric survived has been debated. Hussell believed the Perpendicular piers and capitals to be 17th century copies. Pevsner saw the western piers as shapeless 17th century rebuildings, while others suggest they are 13th or early 14th century work, presumably because of the double-chamfered arches which were fashionable at that time. That the piers and arcades eastward of the explosion site survived and were repaired is borne out by the pre-Reformation niches and vestry at the south-east. William White's restoration of around 1861 overlaid much new detail.