Details
SX 99 NE BROADCLYST BROADCLYST
9/63 Parish Church of St John
- the Baptist
- I
Parish church. Mainly late C15 but retaining some important C14 work, substantially
restored in 1833-4 by Wills and again in 1882 by Edward Ashworth. Dressed volcanic
trap. West tower, nave and chancel with north and south aisles, south porch. An
important church. Fine west tower of ashlar volcanic trap and Beer stone dressing,
4 stages, set-back buttresses each with 4 off-sets, the lower 2 with creeping
animals, the upper 2 with heads and finials. West door under square-headed hood
mould decorated with fleurons and bishops' heads as terminals, shields and
quatrefoils in spandrels and foliated surround. 4-light conventional late-
Perpendicular west window. Tall 2-light belfry openings with pierced tracery
panels. Heraldic panels above these displaying arms of Henry VIII and the Chudleigh
family. Parapet with quatrefoil panelling, gargoyles, corner pinnacles, and an
additional pinnacle to the centre of each side. One 2-light window at 2nd stage
level (to south). North and south aisles each have west demi-octagonal castellated
angle turrets. Castellated parapet to both sides and east end, replaced in 1833.
South side: 5 large 4-light Perpendicular windows, head tracery as in west window,
the mullions treated with castellated capitals which look late C19. Fleurons in the
concave moulding. Hood moulds and head terminals. Buttresses with 2 set-offs,
between windows. Castellated south porch of 1836.
North side: as south but with 6 windows and no porch. North aisle east
window: C14, 3 lights with elaborate Decorated tracery, mullions with
castellated capitals and moulded bases; hood mould with angel terminals
and fleurons. The hood mould breaks the cornice level and this together
with disturbed masonry suggests that the window has been reset.
Interior: 6-bay through-build with rood screen doorways to north.
Arcades with Pevsner 'B' type moulding, the capitals with varied foliage
designs. The one dated capital - 1576, 3rd south from west - is markedly
different from the others with masked faces, foliage and looped
ropework. Arches: outer concave moulding with fleurons rise off corbels
of standing angels, these mostly holding shields and facing both nave
and aisles; the 4 westerly piers facing south bear primitive faces
instead. Tower arch: responds simply chamfered, the soffit panelled.
Roofs of 1833-4. Nave and chancel roof canted and with moulded ribs of 7
bays. Aisle roofs flat with square panels containing diamond ribbing.
All ribs of plaster with medievalised bosses. Sedilia: C14, 3 bays,
nodding ogee canopies under floriated finials, each bay divided by tall
pinnacles. Panelling to rear with 5 trefoil-headed bays with shields.
The recess now contains an early C14 effigy of a knight with twisted
belt and surcoat, feet on lion, head on helm with supporting angels.
Monuments : north chancel aisle, Sir John Acland (dated 1613 and 1614);
he lies on his side propped up on one elbow on a tomb half-chest, the
panel below and behind him heavily decorated with cartouches, putti and
fruit; projecting entablature rests on paired Corinthian columns under
which his two wives kneel; elaborate cresting, obelisk and achievement.
Pevsner considered this monument as one of the most sumptuous of its
date in Devon. South chancel aisle and designed for this corner, Edward
Drew (d.1622), Recorder of Exeter and London, sergeant-at-law, and his
wife. He wears his legal robes. They lie under a canopy, moulded with
modillions supported by Corinthian columns on a chest with pulvinated
frieze above strapwork in panels. Strapwork and shields to rear (south)
wall; sons and daughters kneeling in half-relief at foot. Chancel south
wall: Henry Burroughs (d.1605), founder of Burrough's Almshouses,
Broadclyst and his wife; kneeling figures to either side of deck with
entablature. Another (cont'd). ....... rough inscription to him lies
beneath. North aisle, north wall: Thomas Chappell (d.1657), modest
cartouche. Furnishings and fittings: Reredos, 5 bays, stone with
polished limestone by Ashworth (1882). Font: large, octagonal with
cusped and finialed nodding ogees to each panel, by Simon Rowe (1843).
First World War Memorial window (by Clayton and Bell 1919) with
associated stone memorial below (south aisle). North aisle, east (Ellen
Acland memorial) window: good Expressionist glass by Leonard Walker,
circa 1926. References: Pevsner, SD, 65-6; Devon C19 Churches Project.
Listing NGR: SX9818397271
This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 30 October 2017.
