Church of St Bridget

Church of St Bridget, Bridestowe

This is a parish church of 15th-century date, though the base of the tower may be slightly earlier. The building has been substantially restored in circa 1820, 1866, and 1890.

The tower is constructed of local stone rubble, while the aisles, porch, and chancel are of granite ashlar. The chancel features a gable-ended slate roof; the nave and aisle are covered with corrugated plastic sheeting. The plan comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a west tower, and a south porch.

The church has undergone significant 19th-century restoration. According to Revd. Coryndon Luxmore, writing around 1820, "the church has undergone very considerable repairs within the last 10 years" and the old windows had been replaced about four years prior. The tower was raised substantially and heightened to 40 feet with battlements and pinnacles added. The rood screen, which was present in the 1820s, was removed in 1869. The chancel was restored and a vestry was added in 1866. Further partial restoration took place in 1890 by Fulford and Harvey of Exeter, with additional renovations to mullions and pinnacles in 1900, during which much plaster was removed.

The 3-stage unbuttressed west tower is battered at the base. Its top was rebuilt in the 19th century with battlements and pinnacles. The west window is in Decorated style with a pointed arched doorway below, both dating from the 19th-century restoration. The north aisle features 4 granite ashlar buttresses between 3 windows, all 3-light 19th-century restorations in Decorated style. Towards the east end, the head of a wide blocked arch is visible, and at the aisle's eastern end is a similar 2-light window. A vestry, added in 1866, is built against the north wall of the chancel. The chancel has set-back buttresses, an east window of 3 lights with Perpendicular tracery, and a similar 2-light window on its south side. The south aisle has a coved granite cornice with windows identical to those of the north aisle, with buttresses between them. A blocked window lies west of the porch. The south porch is a gabled single-storey structure with a round-headed granite doorway in a rebated chamfered surround featuring worn roll and hollow moulding with carving in the spandrels.

Interior features include a porch floored with slates set on edge in small squares forming a checker design. The roof is a completely restored wagon roof. A 4-centred arched granite south doorway features worn double hollow moulding. Both arcades have been completely rebuilt in Perpendicular style. The chancel arch is a 4-centred arch of Polyphant stone resting on brackets. The tower arch is unmoulded. The nave and aisle roofs are ceiled but probably contain wagon roofs, though not necessarily of original date. The chancel has a restored wagon roof. The base of the screen survives in very fragmentary form, reusing tracery in the panels. All benches are of 19th or early 20th-century date.

On the north wall of the chancel is a notable wall memorial of 1665 to Lady Honor Calmady, featuring a rhyming epitaph. Ionic columns flank the plaque, with a moulded cornice breaking forward above them; heraldic shields rest above on either side, with a more ornamental shield and coat of arms at the centre. Set into the chancel floor is a slate memorial slab to Thomas and Henry Burneford (died 1727 and 1757 respectively), featuring a rhyming epitaph and carved skull and cross-bones below flanked by a winged angel's head.