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St Mary Arches Church

St Thomas

Devon

871/2/9 MARY ARCHES STREET 29-JAN-53 (North side) St Mary Arches Church (Formerly listed as: MARY ARCHES STREET Church of St Mary Arches) I C12 arcades.

Architectural Features

C15 aisle-widening and fenestration.

Shortened at both east and west ends perhaps also in the C15 or shortly after.

The tower is small and has a west doorway which includes Norman remnants.

The south doorway has small gabled canopy over it which protects a plaster royal arms of the period 1603-1707.

The dominant feature is the C12 arcading.

At the west end are the remains of the jambs of the arch to the previous medieval tower.

It was repaired during Dykes-Bower's restoration and has Corinthian pilasters, carved foliage around oval, rectangular and arched panels: sadly the Commandments etc have been painted over.

Beside the font is an ornate wrought-iron bracket for the font cover made up of former mace and sword rests.

Near the south door is a Georgian royal arms.

There is a fine collection of monuments from the C16

C17 centuries.

At the east end of the south aisle is that to Thomas Andrew , twice mayor of Exeter, a recumbent effigy on a tomb-chest under an ogee-headed canopy, and with four angels holding shields on the base.

The monument to Thomas Walker and wife shows life-size kneeling figures facing one another.

Five other wall-monuments of this Exeter type with a variety of sober but inventive architectural frames HISTORY: St Mary Arches is the least hemmed in of all the Exeter's medieval central city churches.

The Norman arcade shows there was an imposing church here at an early date.

SOURCES: Anon, St Mary Arches: History and Architecture, 2005 (leaflet) Cherry, B, and Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Devon, 391-2 REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Mary Arches, Exeter, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * It is of outstanding interest as an important church surviving from medieval Exeter and is particularly noteworthy for its C12 arcades which are unique among Devon churches.

The building has a complex and unusual structural history * It has a number of fixtures of considerable interest, especially two sets of royal arms, and a fine collection of monuments * It clearly show the impact of several distinct phases of building, and its post-Blitz repair has been carried out with great sensitivity