Church of St Paul

Details

NEWTON ABBOT

SX8671 DEVON SQUARE 1012-1/9/43 Church of St Paul 16/07/49

GV II*

Church. 1859-1861. By JW Rowell. MATERIALS: squared Devon limestone rubble with freestone dressings, slate roof hipped and swept to the eaves of the 5-sided apse which has a stone stack to the south side. Cream freestone rustication to diagonal buttresses at quoins and centres of the transepts; cream freestone pointed relieving arches over lancet windows. PLAN: cruciform plan with canted chancel end, vestry with adjacent stack to south east and wooden bell turret; attached to north east, and extnding eastwards, is a rectangular-plan range with canted end. EXTERIOR: gabled nave and transepts have stone crosses to the parapets of the gables which have circular windows with alternate red and cream voussoirs encircling 3 quatrefoiled lights. Vestry has irrregular lancets and flying buttress feature. Aisles to rear (west) of transepts have paired lancets. Central buttresses are flanked by tall lancets. The 4-bay nave, articulated by offset buttresses has paired lancets under wide relieving arches. Fine north porch has alternate voussoirs of buff and grey to pointed moulded arch on 2 orders of colonettes with dog-tooth carving; inner chamfered arch, with decorative wrought-iron hinges to double plank doors and brick arch framing stencilled lettering which reads "This is the Gate of Heaven....". A fine square-plan bell tower at the crossing is slate-hung at the base; the painted timber belfry of 3 trefoil-headed open panels with quatrefoils to the bases of each side is roofed by a tall square spire offset at the eaves, with a cockerel weathervane. Large west window with alternating buff/grey voussoirs to wide segmental arch over triplet of windows with colonettes and similar chamfered trefoiled lancets flanking 2-light plate-tracery window. INTERIOR: timber-frame, cross-arched-braced roof on stone corbels, making a striking openwork quadripartite form to the crossing and the trusses of the five-sided apse fanning out and resting on marble corbels; pointed-arched rerarches with dog-tooth moulding, engaged colonettes and trefoil heads to C20 stained glass windows; triple polished colonettes with elaborately carved corbels above and below support a pointed chancel arch of alternate red and cream voussoirs; corbelled-out pulpit to the left has winding stone steps; fine polychromatic tile chancel floor; oak communion rail with brass scroll supports. Furniture includes original pews and a 1932 octagonal font with a granite plinth, red marble shaft and cream freestone base and bowl. World War I memorial glass. HISTORY: JW Rowell provided the designs for the development of the Courtenay estate between c1840 and 1860, of which Devon Square formed the centre. A finely-detailed and "roguish" design by a prominent local architect with a marked awareness of national trends and the work of architects such as Teulon and Carpenter. Sited prominently in the centre of Devon Square. (BoE: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Devon: London: 1989-: 587).



Listing NGR: SX8642671192

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

464221

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Devon, (1989), 587

End of official list entry

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