Parish Church Of Holy Trinity

Parish Church of Holy Trinity

This parish church is spectacularly sited on a high hill, some distance from the town of Buckfastleigh below. The building is of early medieval origin, with a 13th-century tower, and a chancel and transepts that are possibly also 13th-century in date. The aisles and chancel chapels are 15th-century additions. The church underwent thorough restoration in 1844–45 to the designs of John Hayward of Exeter, during which new roofs were installed and the upper part of the spire was rebuilt. It was severely damaged by fire on 20 July 1992.

The exterior is rendered in smooth cement, probably dating from the 19th century, though the tower retains earlier roughcast, as does the spire. Granite dressings are used throughout. The roofs are of purple natural slate dating from the 19th century, with crested ridge tiles except on the chancel. Cast-iron rainwater goods with Art Nouveau designs feature on the hoppers.

The plan comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, north and south chancel chapels, north and south transepts (the north used as an organ chamber), four-bay lean-to aisles, a south porch, and a vestry to the centre north. The exterior is predominantly 19th-century in texture and detail. Most window mullions appear to have been renewed, with several variants on an uncusped design with round-headed sub-arches, possibly early 18th-century in date. The chancel has a lower roof than the nave, with a coped gable and a large 19th-century foliated cross. Its east window is a three-light Early English style design with pointed uncusped sub-arches, and there are two small chamfered lancets to the north and south sides.

On the south side is a probably 13th-century Early English hollow-chamfered doorway predating the chancel chapel, with a probably 16th-century plank and studded door featuring a central cover strap over the hinges. Three windows light the nave gable, with a three-light centrepiece with uncusped sub-arches flanked by roundels.

The south chancel chapel has set-back buttresses with granite set-offs and an embattled parapet. Its east and south windows are three-light Perpendicular style designs with tracery. The north chancel chapel has a plain parapet rising as a gable to the east, with east and north windows similar to the south chapel, though the north window has crudely replaced mullions. An octagonal 15th-century rood loft stair turret abuts the north chancel chapel on its north side.

The south transept has east and south three-light windows with round-headed uncusped lights. The north transept has a square-headed two-light east window, probably 16th-century in origin with cusped lights. A high-set Georgian two-light arched timber north window with intersecting glazing bars, probably for lighting a former gallery, lights the north side.

The north aisle contains two unusual four-light windows with depressed four-centred arched heads, uncusped round-headed lights and a small round-headed light in the apex. The north vestry has a three-light east window with round-headed uncusped lights. The south aisle has two three-light square-headed uncusped lights and two three-light square-headed windows with round-headed lights and rustic carving in the spandrels, plus a west window of three plain round-headed lights.

The three-stage west tower has no string-courses or pinnacles. Shallow set-back buttresses and a plain corbelled parapet give each face an effect of vertical panels. A five-sided north stair turret with an embattled parapet and slit windows is attached. The west face has a hollow-chamfered arched doorway with a 19th- or 20th-century west door and a three-light Early English style west window with uncusped sub-arches. Belfry windows on the west and south faces are two-light square-headed designs with trefoil-headed lights; a long slit window lights the south face. The spire, somewhat irregular, dates from Hayward's restoration.

The south porch has a plain arched outer doorway with a circa 1840s two-leaf door with flush panels below the middle rail and slats above. Inside, the porch has a two-bay 1844 roof matching the nave and chancel, stone benches, and a double-chamfered medieval inner doorway with ribbed stops. A two-leaf late 18th- or early 19th-century panelled inner door is fitted within.

The interior has plastered walls. The arcades feature octagonal piers with double hollow-chamfered arches and capitals; similar arches open into the chancel chapels from the aisles and chancel. Two of the north aisle piers are monoliths and may date from the 19th century. A very tall, narrow plain tower arch spans the width. The chancel arch is wide with double hollow-chamfered mouldings, supported on moulded granite corbels which do not match one another.

The roofs date from the 1840s by Hayward: the nave has an eight-bay arch-braced roof with a ridgeboard and two tiers of windbraces; similar two-bay transept roofs are provided; the unceiled lean-to aisle roofs may post-date Hayward's work. A blocked 15th-century doorway to the rood loft stair survives. Plain arched sedilia, an aumbry and piscina in the chancel are probably to Hayward's designs.

The church contains several significant fittings. A fine Norman font, probably late 12th-century, with a carved freestone bowl retaining some colour, sits in the south transept on its original cylindrical stem with four added shafts. A probably late 18th-century domed font cover accompanies it. A late 19th-century timber drum pulpit with blind tracery decoration is displayed. A fine set of box pews, mostly dating from 1844 with blind traceried doors (one inscribed "reserved for ringers"), lines the interior. The west end pews are probably earlier, with panelled doors and banked up to the west wall. The chancel has a 19th-century brass communion rail with foliage decoration and 20th-century choir stalls. Two 17th-century slate memorial slabs are set into the floor, one in the chancel and one in the south transept.

The stained glass is interesting and mostly by Beer of Exeter; the east window of the south chancel chapel is probably by Beer and Driffield. Unfortunately, the backgrounds of several windows have been removed, leaving the figures isolated. The south window of the south transept is by Powell & Son, designed by H E Wooldridge.

An undated and unsigned architect's drawing in the porch shows the proposal to re-site the font in the south transept. John Hayward of Exeter was the leading local Gothic Revival church architect in the Exeter diocese during the 1840s and 1850s, and his involvement in the 1844–45 restoration, combined with the Beer stained glass, represents an unusual combination of local architect and craftsman in this early medieval church.