Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Walkhampton

This is a parish church dating from the late 15th and 16th centuries, with an addition made in 1832. The walls are constructed of granite rubble, with granite ashlar used on the lower and upper stages of the tower and the south aisle. The roof is slate with gable ends. The building comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, and a south porch.

The nave and chancel may predate the 15th century, though no pre-Perpendicular work is evident. The north aisle is the earliest part, dating from around the late 15th century, with the south porch and tower probably contemporary. The south aisle is considerably later and likely dates from after the Reformation. In 1832, a vestry was added at the east end of the north aisle in memory of William Alexander, brother of the then curate and son of D. A. Alexander, the architect of Dartmoor Prison. The church underwent restoration in 1860.

The tower is imposing, with three stages and battlements. It features very tall octagonal crocketted pinnacles and diagonal buttresses. The belfry openings are large 2-light windows with simple tracery. The west doorway is richly moulded with an acute 4-centred arch and arched hoodmould, built of Roborough stone. The large west window has three lights with Perpendicular tracery. Above the belfry opening, a gargoyle projects on a very long neck. A pentagonal stair turret on the north-west corner of the tower contains small bullseye lights.

The north aisle has four original 3-light windows with cinquefoiled heads, the central light slightly taller, alternating with buttresses. At the east end is a small gabled vestry that reuses a narrow 2-light window with curvilinear tracery, possibly from the chancel. The east windows on both the north and south aisles are 3-light with Perpendicular tracery, constructed of Roborough stone with granite jambs. The east window of the south aisle is smaller. Beside the south aisle window is a wall memorial dated 1802 to Peter Holmes and his two wives. The south aisle has four 3-light very late Perpendicular windows with roundheaded lights. The south porch predates the south aisle and has a heavily moulded 4-centred arched doorway of Roborough stone with a quatrefoil in each spandrel and a square hoodmould.

Interior

The south doorway is granite with heavily moulded 4-centred arch. In 1912, plaster was stripped from the internal walls, which unfortunately led to the destruction of some painted scripture and removal of several 17th-century wall memorials, including one to Richard Attwell, now lying in the churchyard.

The two arcades differ significantly. The north arcade is Roborough stone with Pevsner A-type piers, moulded cup capitals and bases, and double-chamfered depressed 4-centred arches. The south arcade is also of four bays and begins to the east of the porch, continuing across the chancel. It is constructed of granite with similar arches but slightly different piers and capitals. The tower arch is moulded and rebated in a moulded surround, resting on corbel heads representing a man and a woman. There is no chancel arch, though vestiges of springing suggest one once existed. At the east end of the north aisle is a low arched recess containing a cinquefoil-headed piscina, possibly a vestige of an earlier building.

The wagon roofs are all ceiled and likely date from the 19th or 20th century. The font cover, pulpit, reredos, reading desk and choir stalls are of good quality and were made by the Reverend Charles Walker, who died in 1909. The stained glass is 20th century. The font is probably 15th century, octagonal, made of Roborough stone, and decorated with raised shields on panels of the bowl.

Despite a relatively plain interior, the church has not suffered greatly from external restoration. It occupies an elevated position that makes it prominent from considerable distances in all directions, giving it considerable landscape value. Its isolated position, away from the village and formerly with only the church house in close proximity, is a matter for conjecture but adds to its interest.