Church of St Martin and St Giles

Details

WERRINGTON SX 38 NW 9/302 Church of St Martin and St Giles (previously listed as Church of St 23.8.57 Martin of Tours, Werrington, Broadwoodwidger R.D., Devon)

GV I

Parish church dedicated to St Martin. 1742, consecrated in 1743 by Dr. Nicholas Claggit. Restored in 1891-2, the restoration largely financed by the Williams family of Werrington Park. Snecked local stone rubble with slate roofs.

Plan: C18 church comprised nave, west tower flanked by two smaller towers, north transept forming Morice vault with gallery above used by house servants and later by choir and south transept forming south porch with external stair to gallery above.

Restored in 1891-2 when the chancel and organ chamber were added, the vestry accommodation was enlarged, stair turrets were added to the north and south transepts, the galleries becoming Sunday School rooms and the interior was reseated.

Exterior: Especially interesting and unusual west front with west tower of two stages with prominent battlemented parapet and large crocketted finials flanked by battlemented screen wall terminating in two smaller towers also battlemented with crocketted finials. Set in the niches around the towers are ten possibly C17 free-standing figures, possibly ten of the Apostles, with two further figures towards the east end of the church. The west tower reuses dressed stone including the crocketted finials, taken from the Medieval church which originally stood close to Werrington Park (q.v.).

Cl8 round headed windows to nave with later C19 tracery and C19 Perpendicular windows in the C19 chancel. The battlemented parapets to the two storey north and south transepts have remodelled when the church was restored in 1891 (see photograph in vestry) and circular turretted stair cases were added in the west sides. Set into the east wall of the chancel is a slate ledger stone with kneeling figures in relief; possibly from a monument to the Drake family reset from the earlier (demolished) church. Also reset is a small relief depicting two naked figures in the gable end above. Reset on exterior is an unusual headstone of an African servant, Philip Scipio erected by Lady Lucy Morice (1734).

Interior: Tall lofty interior, the walls rendered and the chancel with freestone dressings. Furnishings and roof dating from 1891 restoration and are simple in style. C18 pulpit with raised and fielded panels. Especially interesting C18 font, probably the earliest Gothic Revival font (Pevsner) and possibly by Kent who, Pevsner suggests, may have been responsible for the C18 additions to Werrington Park (q.v.).

The font has a small bowl decorated with cherubs' heads on a baluster shaft with moulded base. Norman font from earlier church; the bowl decorated with carved heads at corners on an octagonal stem with square base. On wall of vestry in ground floor of north transept is a marble heart shaped plaque to William Morice, 1688. This was originally attached to a second heart shaped plaque with the Morice arms (see illustration in 0. Peter, p. 15) and was probably part of the monument above the Morice vault. Stained glass; memorials to Coade and Williams families. Stocks dated WC 1797. Sir William Morice's act of demolishing the Medieval church which had stood close to Werrington Par and the careless way he transferred the churchyard remains considerably outraged the parishioners. Traditionally a curse was placed on the Morice family, Sir William died childless and within 30 years the estate has passed from the family.

Peter, 0 The Manor and Park of Werrington, 1906. Pevsner, N The Buildings of England and Devon 1958. Rendell, J Werrington Parish Church, a short history.

Listing NGR: SX3278687611

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

68191

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Otto, P, The Manor and Park of Werrington, (1906)
Rendell, J, The Story of the Bude Canal, (1987)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: South Devon, (1952)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.