St Mary The Virgin

Present church partly C13 , partly C15 with some conservative repair

rebuilding of the C17.

3-bay Early English N aisle arcade, aisle roof said to date from 1639

The tower and S aisle date from the Priory, which has buildings on the E and N sides of the tower, which is described as `rebuilt' (inscription on porch) by Robert Nutting in 1696 following Civil War damage, with later rebuilding 1845-1850 (Pevsner).

Small moulded doorway into SE chapel with old dripstone and carved dripstone terminals

Tall castellated porch in first bay from W with moulded outer doorway with C19 carved dripstone terminals and 2-light square-headed Perpendicular window on E return

moulded inner doorway with C16 dripstone terminals.

Boarded waggon roofs to nave, chancel chapel and aisles with moulded ribs and carved bosses at the intersections.

If the N aisle roof is C17 it is an important late exmaple of a roof type which dates from at least the C14 in Devon churches.

One stone-vaulted C13 bay into the tower from the chancel.

Plain, massive N arcade, the piers chamfered with some diagonal stops and carved corbels.

C15 S arcade, extending to from division between chancel and SE chancel chapel, the piers with alternating shafts and hollow chamfers, carved foliage capitals and moulded arches.

Steep C13 arch into tower from E end of N aisle, somewhat obscured by the organ.

Fine C16 parclose into SE chapel, inscribed with a R for Raleigh and presumably post-1533.

Parclose has good carving and mixture of Gothic and Renaissance detail.

Perpendicular stone pulpit on stem, the panels decorated with blind arcading - some traces of ancient colour.

The pulpit has a Jacobean sounding board and, projecting from the side, an unusual iron hand for an hourglass.

Font has plain octagonal Ham Hill bowl on a stem and a fine font cover (Pevsner suggests it was put together in Elizabethan times) with concave sides with crockets and a pinnacle.

Font stands below canopied tester made up of fragments of Gothic and Renaissance carving including linenfold, figure panels, applied barleysugar ribs and Gothic fretwork.

This font seems to be of modest character, made of local Ham Stone. However, the wooden cover is a fine piece of what is thought to be Elizabethan vintage; the elaborate canopied tester above it is made up of fragments of Gothic and Renaissance carving including linenfold, figure panels, applied barleysugar ribs and Gothic fretwork.

© Neil Owen

Late C16 communion table with pull-out leaves.

Late C16 communion rail with bookrest on top, turned balusters and long pendants in each bay supporting arches with carved leaves in the spandrels.

Chancel has C14 cinquefoil-headed piscina on S wall.

1880s crested sandstone reredos with blind Gothic arcading, designed as an ensemble with the E window and a wall plaque commemorating the Reverend William Gradoch Hall, d. 1889, carved by Bryant and Son of Barnstaple.

Plaque sited above very narrow moulded doorway that formerly lead to an E end chapel with adjacent chamber inhabited by a recluse in 1329 (church guide).

1707 Royal Arms, painted on boards, fixed to W end of N wall.

MONUMENTS: very fine standing sandstone wall monument to Sir John Chichester, d. 1569 at W end of SE chapel with columns and strapwork cartouches.

On the N wall of the chancel a fine monument with original colour to Sir Robert Chichester, d. 1627 with 2 rows of kneeling figures, including children facing a double prie-dieu.

The S aisle has a large wall monument to Christopher Lethbridge, d. 1713 with elaborate achievement and putto heads.

STAINED GLASS: E window of chancel and SE chapel windows by F Drake and Sons of Exeter

2 windows in S aisle late work by Heaton, Butler and Bayne (Reginald Norman, notes on the stained glass from the church guide).

This is an important church with good fittings and some fine monuments.