Parish Church of St Mary

Details

ST 00 NE
8/105
5.4.66

KENTISBEARE
PRIESTHILL
Parish Church of St Mary

GI
Parish church.Tower and chancel late C14 or early C15;the nave possibly incorporates earlier work;south aisle added by John Whityng(died 1529);C19 vestry.MATERIALS:a great variety of different stone:Beer stone and a rare cinnamon coloured red sandstone quarried near Cullompton are used to form a chequer pattern on the north side of the tower;otherwise mostly coursed or random rubble sandstone with some volcanic trap and Beer stone;C19 work in limestone,the vestry of flint. Dry slate roofs.PLAN:West tower,nave,west porch,chancel,south aisle to both nave and chancel;vestry added at west end of south aisle.EXTERIOR:tall battlemented tower of two stages with plinth;the north side is the show front with battlemented polygonal stair turret and set-back buttresses decorated in a chequer pattern.Two-light belfry openings,Perpendicular three-light window and contemporary west doorway.North side:the nave wall is the only part of the church that lacks a plinth,and the masonry is also laid differently.It is possibly earlier.Two late C15 or early C16 three-light Perpendicular windows to nave.C15 porch with ceiled wagon roof,with canopied niches above both inner and outer doorways,that to the former the more elaborate of the two.Chancel with smaller Perpendicular windows then nave,much renewed. South side with a good set of early C16 windows,that to the south aisle east,almost intact, the others restored.Stair turret to rood loft and aisle roof.Pretty late C19 vestry with its roof aligned north-south.INTERIOR:no chancel arch;five bay arcade.Crisp,high-quality foliated capitals-those to the west piers are of coarse workmanship and-wavy mouldings to piers.The pier flanking the Whityng chapel(south of the chancel)is adorned with his coat of arms and the symbols of his trade.Tower arch with panelled intrados.Ceiled wagon roof throughout,all medieval,except above the Whytyng chapel which is C19.South aisle embellished with shield-bearing angles at wall plate level.Screen:ten bay rood screen is one of the finest in the country,with flamboyant elements,and a great variety of design and detailing(each bay is different).Bligh Bond(see references)considered it to be the prototype of the 'Exe-Valley' class of screens.It displays the arms of John Whityng.Parclose,of four bays,to a different design,and less well preserved.Font:hexagonal,stone,and probably C15.Piscina:Whityng chapel,early C16.C16 panelling to east wall of Whytyng chapel,believed to have been brought here from Bradfield House(q.v.)C17 bellringing chamber floor.Fine gallery(west end)dated 1632,with cornice and rail presumably added in the late C18 or early C19 when the gallery was re-seated.Pulpit,apparently once dated 1736,and signed by Isaac Bonifant(Pevsner).C18 charity boards.C19 nave benches and chancel stalls.Reredos of 1881.Monuments: the most noteworthy are(in chronological order):(1)Tomb chest of John Whityng in the Whityng chapel.Beer stone with polyplant slab.Brasses largely missing but illustrated in Hamilton Rogers,Sepulchral Effigies of Devonshire(2)Tomb chest of Lady Buildford, pl. died 1558,also in the Whityng chapel.The memorial inscription brass set into the C16 panelling along the east wall.(3)Two wall monuments that commemorate charities(a)of William Evelyn,died 1671,north wall of nave and(b)Edmund Crosse(not dated,but C17),both stone with architrave.(4)Wall monument to Rev.J.W.Scott,died 1820,chancel south wall.A good cosmopolitan piece(not signed)commemorating Sir Walter Scott's nephew;Scott penned the inscription which is placed on a scroll hanging over an obliquely-set sarcophagus,the whole revealed by a life-sized naked child.All marble.Glass:medieval fragments in south aisle,east window.East window,and possibly the others in the chancel,by Clayton and Bell,1882.

Listing NGR: ST0679808108

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

95760

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bligh Bond, F, Bede Camm, D, Roodscreens and Roodlofts, (1909), 325
Stabb, J, Notes on some Old Devon Churches, (1908), 71-72
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: South Devon, (1952), 187-188
Chalk, E S, Devonshire Association Parochial Histories in Kentisbeare and Blackborough, Vol. 3, ()

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