Church of St Michael

Details

OTTERTON CHURCH HILL, Otterton SY 0885 7/122 Church of St Michael 30.6.61 GV II*

Parish church. Late C11 tower, though much altered, is a relic of a priory of that date which belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of Mont St Michel, Normandy. The rest is a rebuild of 1870-1, done at the expense of Louisa, Lady Rolle, with Benjamin Ferrey the architect, Henry Burridge the builder, and carvings by Harry Hems of Exeter. It contains a C15 font. The tower is built of roughly coursed blocks of pale brown-coloured local conglomerate sandstone; the rest is built of coursed blocks of rock-faced Torquay limestone with yellow sandstone detail (tower also has contemporary detail). Interior is lined with Beerstone. Roof of red tiles including fishscale bands. The plan is wholly that of 1870. Originally the tower was central. By the C19 it was at the east end. Now it projects from the south side of the chancel. The rest is made up by nave and lower chancel with large north and south aisles. There are north and south porches, a crypt, and the vestry is the ground floor of the tower. The style of the restoration is Decorated Gothic and the tower was converted to the same style then. However it also includes a few Transitional and Early English Gothic details in places. All the blocks are gable-ended with soffit-moulded coping and apex cross: Iona cross to the chancel, fleuree crosses elsewhere. All the windows have pointed heads, they contain Decorated Gothic tracery and have hoodmoulds with carvings of medieval heads as labels (monks, jester, kings etc). The 2-stage tower has a very low pyramidal spire surmounted by a brass weather cock and fenced by a parapet carved with blind quatrefoil panels. A gargoyle waterspout projects from each corner. 2-light belfry windows. On the lower part of the southern side there is the dripcourse of an original roof over a contemporary round- headed arch with Beerstone voussoirs. The arch is now blocked by a shallow projection of the vestry which contains a 3-light window in the gable end. C19 stair turret projects from the east side rising up to belfry level with its stone roof pitched with rounded hip, a prominent finial and corbelled eaves cornice. The corners of the upper stage have broad chamfers whilst the lower stage is square. It has slit windows and an external door, the latter square-headed with small columns with waterleaf capitals inset into the jambs and a band of natural leaf enrichment along the head. Both of the aisles are the same size. The east end of the south aisle contains only a trefoil-headed lancet because the tower covers most of it but the other ends contain 4-light windows with ventilator slits in the gable. Each of the side walls is 4 bays containing a porch and three 3-light windows. There are buttresses with weathered offsets and steeply gabled heads between and setback buttresses. The south porch lies right of centre whilst the north porch is by the west end. Both are identical. They are gable-ended with wrought iron apex crosses. The 2-centred outer arches have richly-chamfered heads but broad chamfers to the jambs. Double- lancet windows in the side walls. On the east end, the nave projects very slightly from the aisles; it contains a 5-light window, ventilator in the gable and an inscribed foundation stone near the ground. The chancel continues the same style; 2-light windows on the sides and a 3-light east window. Here however the side walls have a coved eaves cornice carved with acanthus leaves and the east window is flanked by half engaged columns with stiff leaf capitals. Ground level the north side of the church is lower than that on the south. Because of this the north porch and the priests door to the chancel are reached by flights of stone steps. Interior is basically that of the 1870-71 restoration. Both porches have open common rafter roofs and have chequer-pattern floors of red and black tiles. The north and south doorways are each a 2-centred arch with moulded surround and contain plank doors with Decorated style strap hinges. The interior is completely lined with Beerstone ashlar. All the roofs are pine and backed with pine boards. The nave has an open 4-bay roof of hammer beam trusses, each with moulded arch braces, octagonal king post with moulded cap, raking queen struts and spaces above collar filled with open cusping. The hammer beams terminate with plain shields and the arch braces supporting them rest on shaped corbels. The wall plate is a board with crenellated head, pierced by small quatrefoils over dogtooth frieze. The end trusses are scissor-braced with cusped infill. Each aisle has an open 4-bay roof of arch-braced trusses with foliage carved in the spandrels. The arch braces rest on large Beerstone corbels carved as human heads under soffit- moulded caps. The purlins are moulded and the wall plate is a simpler version of that in the nave. The chancel has a 5-bay boarded wagon roof with moulded ribs and carved (possibly oak) bosses. The 2 bays over the sanctuary are more elaborate having cusped frames around the panels. The truss between sanctuary and chancel is broader than the others and has a descending crest of open cusps. This truss also springs from vaulting shafts which comprises marble shafts resting on large corbels carved as angels. The chancel arch is a large 2-centred arch with a very richly moulded head and broad chamfered sides. The inner mouldings spring from vaulting shafts; marble shafts with beerstone stiff leaf capitals, moulded bases on pedestals enriched with balls of coloured marble, and supported on large corbels carved as angels (one holding flowers, the other playing a lute). Each side of the nave there is a 4-bay arcade; moulded beerstone arches with hodmoulds springing from corbels carved as various foliages. The piers are marble and circular in section with Beerstone caps carved with stiff leaf decoration and occasionally with human heads. The tower arch is on the south side of the chancel. It is a relatively low 2-centred arch with a double- chamfered arch ring, the inner ring springing from plain imposts and the outer carried down the jambs. Directly above the voussoirs of a probably Cll round- headed arch are exposed. The chancel also has an internal coving frieze with acanthus leaf enrichment. The inner arches of the chancel windows have marble nook shafts with Beerstone stiff leaf capitals and hoodmoulds over springing from the abaci. Nave and aisle floors are a chequer pattern of red and block tiles. The chancel floor contains patterns of encaustic tiles, more densely employed in the sanctuary which is raised by marble steps. Nearly all the furniture and fittings are from the 1870-71 rebuild and done in a consistent Transitional-Early English Gothic style. Ornate Beerstone reredos. The centrepiece breaks forward from a blind arcade of trefoil-headed arches supported on slender marble shafts with Beerstone stiff leaf capitals, sunken cusped panels in the spandrels and a moulded cornice enriched with a band of trefoils, recessed to coloured marble, over ballflower frieze. The panels are painted, some geometric patterns, others prayers and commandments. The centrepiece has a central blind trefoil-headed arch with crockets and a large poppyhead at the apex rising through the frieze. It too rests on small marble shafts with stiff leaf capitals and it frames a sunken quatrefoil containing the scared monogram in mosaic. Either side are symbols of the Evangelists in bas relief in square sunken panels. Each corner of the sanctuary contains a Riddel post, a tall turned timber post surmounted by a gilded angel, put there in 1921. Oak altar rail on a trefoil-headed arcade. Oak stalls in which frontals contain open early Decorated Gothic style tracery and benches have large poppyhead finials. Brass candle holders here now converted to electric lights. Chancel also contains a wrought iron and brass corona lucis also now converted to electric light. Ornate Beerstone pulpit with marble enrichment. The drum is square with chamfered corners with blind arcade each side; 2 arches on the larger sides with a rosette in the tympanum and sunken quatrefoils in the spandrels, and the chamfered corners contain narrow trefoil-headed panels. There are slender marble stiff leaf capitals on each corner and on the broader sides. Carved stiff leaf cornice and natural leaf around base. It is supported on a large central pier and corner piers, all with stiff leaf capitals. It has stone steps with a brass handrail with twisted balusters. Brass lectern with twisted stem and scrolled enrichment. Plain deal benches still with their original numbers on the bench ends. C15 Beerstone font; octagonal bowl, its sides containing quatrefoil panels alternately containing 4-leaf motifs and shields, carved foliage around the base, stem has trefoil-headed panels and moulded base. The flat oak cover is probably C17. Memorials. The oldest and the best is the Duke altar tomb now set in the tower. It is built of Beerstone, dated 1859 but has no inscription. Below the lid there is a frieze of interlace with acanthus leaves which is supported by 3 flat pilasters. The panels between are decorated with strapwork patterns. 3 Ionic columns stand on the lid carrying on entablature with modillion cornice. Behind the columns are 2 panels with strapwork panels around oval bosses. On top of the entablature there is an uniscribed plaque flanked by flat pilasters and with a plain entablature. The shaped wings either side are also decorated with strapwork. Above is the date plaque and it is surmounted by the Duke arms. The tower also contains rectangular black marble mural plaques, 1 in memory of Richard Crossing (died 1689) with his arms, another in memory of William Simmons (died 1782), and a third in memory of Henry Austin (died 1700). A C16 Beerstone graveslab is fixed to the wall in the south aisle; its black letter inscription records the death of Mr John Courtenay in 1593. The chancel contains a marble plaque erected in 1905 in memory of the two members of the Venn family who were rectors in the C17. Other small late C19 and early C20 marble or brass plaques. A painted board in the south aisle dated 1745 records charity bequests. Below the west window a brass plaque records the 'restoration' of the church at the expense of Lady Rolle. Alongside to the left several brass plates are fixed to the wall. They appear to be coffin plates salvaged from the demolition of the Duke vault in 1870. The oldest and most ornate are 2 dated 1641, one in memory of Richard Duke, the other in memory of Sarah Duke. In 1870 they were mounted in the tower around the altar tomb there but have since been moved here. In the south aisle an oak chest is inscribed IM and WB, 1762. A display box on top contains one of the C15 oak bosses removed in 1870 and a couple of old prints showing the Church before it was rebuilt. Both east and west windows contain stained glass, the former by Warden Hughes, was given by the Hon.Mark Rolle. The Church of St Michael is mostly the result of Ferrey's rebuild of 1870-71. Even the tower, the only survival from the earlier church, was massively restored and shows only little evidence of its C11 origins. The C15 font was retained. Ferrey provided a light and spacious church which still contains furniture and fittings of that date. The craftsmanship is good but the architecture rises only to the dignified. The best feature in the church is the Duke altar tomb of 1589. Sources. Church guide. (This includes a reproduction of a drawing of the church in 1842 by W J Spreat). A description of the church before its restoration is included in Beatrix Cresswell, Notes on Devon Churches, The Deanery of Aylesbeare. (1920) pp.168-9.

Listing NGR: SY0799385165

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

86323

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Church Guide to Church of All Saints Easington Humberside, ()
Cresswell, B F, Notes on Devon Churches in the Deanery of Aylesbeare, (1920), 168-169

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