Details
SS20SE BRIDGERULE CP CHURCHTOWN
12/21
Church of St Bridget
14.2.58
GV I
Anglican parish church. C13 chancel and north transept, nave enlarged mid C14, south
transept enlarged as south aisle with porch 1400-50, tower c1450, church restored 1723
when west gable end of south aisle rebuilt, vestry added 1878 when slate floors laid and
minor restoration undertaken, interior refitted out 1889-1913, chancel reroofed 1897,
north transept roof 1905, roof reslated 1985-6. Architect for 1878 work J.P.St Aubyn,
clerk of works Mr Crutchett. Random rubble local stone, rendered south face of chancel,
granite dressings, ashlar tower and facade of porch, hollow chamfer ashlar wallplate to
south aisle and porch, coped verges, diamond pattern slates to south aisle, decorative
ridge tiles to porch and vestry, decorative slate bargeboards to gable end of vestry.
Chancel, vestry, north transept known as the Lady chapel, 5-bay south aisle, south porch,
west tower. Crenellated 3-stage ubuttressed tower, crocketed finials, tiny stairlight
openings on all stages in north-west corner, 2-light louvred bell-openings, unidentified
column of incised markings about 5 courses high in south-east corner of bell-stage, not
thought to be mason's marks, square-headed opening on south front with hoodmould, 3-
light west window, string course continued as hoodmould over 4-centred arch-head west
door, late C19/early C20 plank door, moulded plinth. South aisle unlit west gable end;
slate tablet attached in south-west corner to John Jewel the Younger died 6 Jan. 1778
with an angel's face in relief; four 3-light cinquefoil-headed hollow chamfered granite
windows with hooodmoulds, single storey porch between first and second bays west, round
headed opening with decorative spandrels to porch, square hoodmould with stops which
also incorporates a niche surmounted by the effigy of man with book, probably St
Michael, the niche is filled with a sundial of c1800, moulded plinth; chequerboard floor
of slates laid on edge, decorative ribbed barrel vault with bosses, pointed arched
opening to south door, late C19/early C20 door. The porch contains two C18/C19 slate
tablets with the Ten Commandments removed from the high altar late C19; stocks and
Romanesque pillar piscina used as holy water stoup; on the west front of porch slate
slab with incised angel's face inscriped to Joan Curry died 22 June 1769, aged 99 years
and 9 months - the tablet has split. Late C19 3-light east window to south aisle, 3-
light East window to chancel, C19 3-light window to vestry, square-headed 3-light
window under hoodmould to gable end of north transept, buttressed C20 lean-to in angle.
North front of nave blocked pointed arch doorway, C14 trefoil-headed opening to west
(the Mary window). There are a number of interesting C18 and C19 slate head stones
unattached and leaning against this wall. Interior: rendered, exposed jambs to East
window, exposed masonary in tower and granite south arcade. C19 chancel roof open ribbed
barrel vault, painted decoration, with bosses and angels to wallplate; nave open barrel
vault with unmoulded ribs and wallplate; south aisle open barrel vault with fine
decorative ribs and wallplate; scissor-brace roof to vestry. No chancel arch, tower arch
very high, almost semicircular, enriched capitals with cable moulding best preserved on
interior of tower, long stops, hollow chamfer pointed arch to tower stair; unmoulded
semicircular arch to north transcept with slate projections. Five bay Perpendicular
arcade with depressed pointed arches and octagonal capitals. Semicircular-headed doorway
in east wall of north transcept formerly to roodstair, now to vestry; doorway to roodloft
extant but now partly blocked by cresting of C19 roodscreen. Small pointed arch-head
piscina in south wall of chancel originally forming part of jamb to unidentified opening
in chancel wall. Square-headed aumbry opening in north wall. Floors of squared slate set
chequerboard pattern in nave and aisles, encaustic tiles in chancel by Goodwin and Co.
Norman font, bowl and stem of one piece in an egg-cup shape. Two pieces of medieval
stained glass in south-east window of aisle, east window of aisle dated 1857 and
resited from East window when reredos added. Fittings dating from 1889-1907 including
roodscreen, baptistry screen, organ case, reredos, lamps and carved wooden surround to
the Mary window in the north wall of the nave. Monuments to members of the Kingdon
family, who were the incumbents here during the C18-early C20, including one by Emes
and Stephens of Exeter to John Kingdon, died 1808, rector here for 40 years. Damaged
slate floor slab behind the organ to Nicholas Sharsell, vicar, died 1698, and fine early-
mid C17 slate tablet without the owner's name but inscribed with a poem explaining that
she was a young bride of a few months; probably a member of the Gilbert family of
Tackbeare Manor, now Tackbeare Farmhouse (q.v.). The church contains an extensive
collection of Tractarian fittings, mass produced and though not of a high standard
artistically very interesting as a survival of C19 taste. In the vestry there is a list
of 'wants' complied by the rector in 1883 with their cost and date of acquisition.
(Cherry and Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Devon, forthcoming; Kelly's Directory,
1910; Photograph in NMR)
Listing NGR: SS2812003168
