Bovey Tracey Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury Basics
Listed building grade 1
Regularly open
Address
Bovey Tracey Church of St Peter and St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury
East Street
Bovey Tracey
Exeter
TQ13 9EN
Geographical coordinates
50°35’41.9″N 3°39’59.4″W (enter these in your smartphone navigator)
Devonchurchland says…
Richly renovated in the nineteenth century, much to disgust of some its congregation, Bovey Tracey church is a delight to visit, not least because of its very pretty position on the edge of the town.
The exterior has some lovely touches, a fourteenth century tower on a fifteenth century body, various delightful doors and a good porch with some intoxicating medieval roof bosses inside.
Entering, the rood screen catches the eye and it is a charm, original medieval painted saints on the wainscoting and a careful mixture of original and renovation on the rest. The colouring is Victorian, the whole is stunning.
There is an equally stunning medieval stone pulpit nearby, covered in organic carved foliage with saints in niches, and more recent colour that really brings out the design.
In the fine chancel there are two high quality 17th century monuments, both organised by the same wife of the two dead husbands, Nicholas Eveleigh and Elizaeus Hele. They are marvellous examples of good stone carving.
Also in the chancel are some fine misericords, the choir stall seats need to be lifted to see them.
Back in the nave a very pretty, and very rare, 15th century golden brass eagle lectern spreads its wings, probably made in East Anglia. A beautiful piece. Do not miss the very cute lions at its feet, not its bejewelled talons, restored in the 20th century.
There are other treasure in the church, the stained glass for one, a lovely collection, as well as the overall space. A very nice church indeed.
Outline
PLAN
- Nave
- Chancel
- South aisle
- 2 north aisles
- West tower
- South porch
- Vestry and boiler room at the east end of the north aisles
AGE
- C15 with C14 tower
- Second north aisle added 1858
- Under the “direction” of William Slater
- Vestry and boiler house C19
- Restored 1858 and 1887-8
BUILT FROM
- Granite and slatestone rubble
- Granite dressings
- Most of the window detail is in limestone
- Boiler house is of yellow brick
- Slated roofs
- In 1836 the roof had dormer windows
- Presumably removed in the 1858 restoration
Exterior
WEST TOWER
- 3 stages
- Each stage tapered and slightly narrower than the one below
- In the west face of the lowest stage
- A round-arched, hollow-moulded granite doorway
- Set high up, presumably as a result of the ground level being altered
- Above it is a 3-light granite window
- Intersecting tracery
- Seems to be a complete restoration
- Second stage has a slit window at its base on the north, south and west sides
- South window having a pointed head
- Above the slits on the south and west sides is a large black clock-face
- Gilded detail
- Third stage (belfry) has 2 tiers of openings in each face
- Lower openings are of 2 lights
- With pointed heads
- South and west openings having the lights set under a 2-centred arch
- Upper openings have paired, shouldered-head lights
- Perhaps contemporary with the oversailing battlemented parapet and finials
- All of which are C19
SOUTH AISLE
- Perpendicular windows
- Each of 4 lights
- All of them appear to be C19 restorations
- East and west windows are of 3 lights
- May be partly original Perpendicular
- Buttresses flanking the windows
- Finished with a crenellated parapet
- Enriched with quatrefoil panels
- 5-sided, crenellated stair turret
- At the outer corner of its west end
- Clasping buttresses at east end
CHANCEL
- North and south windows are similar
- Apparently with original head-tracery
- Same is true of the 5-light east window
- Clasping buttresses at east end
- In the south wall a priest’s door
- Ogee and hollow-moulded
- 2-centred head
PORCH
- Enriched crenellated parapet
- A pinnacle on each outer corner
- Below each is a gargoyle
- Carved respectively with the arms of Stawell and Forbes
- Outer doorway is a C19 restoration
- Inner doorway is medieval
- Heavily moulded and enriched limestone
- 2-centred head
- Wooden roof has heavy, intersecting moulded beams
- Carved bosses at the intersections
- Centre a boss with a cluster of 4 heads
- Flanking the top of the inner doorway are 2 moulded limestone corbels
- Lower down, on the right, is a holy water stoup
- With ogee head
- In the east wall is a plaque with the carved inscription
- “The Floor of this Porch new laid, & gate made, Anno Dom 1710’
- Present iron gates are C20
NORTH AISLE
- North windows are similar to those on the south
- Intention in 1858 was to re-use the windows of the medieval north aisle
- And repair them in Caen stone
- It is not clear how far this was carried out
- East and west windows of the 2 north aisles also appear to be C19 Perpendicular
- Except for the east window of the medieval north aisle
- Which seems to be original Perpendicular
- 3 cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights
- Although the lower part has been blocked.
- The medieval north aisle
- A surviving plain crenellated parapet at either end
- 5-sided, crenellated stair turret
- At the outer corner of its west end
Interior
VARIOUS
- South door has segmental rear arch
- hollow-moulded and enriched with 4-leaved flowers
- Chapel at east end of south aisle has trefoil-headed piscina in south wall
CHANCEL
- On south side, against parclose screen, 3 medieval stalls with misericords
- At east end of the 1858 aisle an organ with painted pipes
- Installed in 1887-8
- Fragment of foliated masonry in south wall may be the remnant of a piscina
FONT
- Octagonal
- Beer stone
- Shaft decorated with trefoil-headed panels
- Bowl with quatrefoils
- Wooden font cover of circa 1660
- In the form of an 8-sided pyramid
- Large finial on top
SCREENS
- C15 rood screen
- Timber
- Across nave and old aisles
- Restored in 1887
- When the missing vaulting was made
- And again in 1910
- Dado has almost complete set of painted figures
- In ogee-headed cinquefoil panels
- Those of the chancel doors late C19 or early C20
- Open tracery above of Pevsner’s ‘Type A’
- Trail enrichment of loft believed to be ancient in part
- With the exception of the figures, visible paint is circa 1910
- But may conceal some ancient colour
- Parclose screens of first half C16
- Two ogee-headed cinquefoil lights
- Doorways at east end
- Doors of 1907 (inscription)
ROOFS
- Nave and chancel have unbroken arcades of 5 arches
- Piers diamond-shaped in section
- With a shaft attached to each point
- Wave mouldings in between
- Capitals foliated with several different designs
- The half-columns which lie within the chancel having undercut foliage
- 2-centred arches with ogee, wave, quarter-round and hollow mouldings
- The 5 arches of the 1858 north arcade are copies of the original work
PULPIT
- 5-sided
- Stone
- Medieval work
- Richly carved
- Foliage trails separating 2-tier panels of niches
- Containing figures
- C20 paint may cover ancient colours
- Base probably C19
LECTERN
- Late C15
- Brass
- Believed to be East Anglian work
- Consists of large eagle with wings outstretched
- Standing on a moulded pillar
- 3 small lions at the foot
- Eagle’s claws restored 1912
MONUMENTS
- On north side of chancel
- Monument to Nicholas Eveleigh (d.1618)
- In white limestone
- Consists of a figure propped up on one elbow
- Beneath it an ornately carved chest
- Above it a high round arch
- Flanked by Corinthian columns
- Immediately above figure is a tablet carved with the inscription ‘1620 1D’
- On south side of chancel
- Monument of Elizaeus Hele (d.1636)
- Alabaster.
- Similar in design to Eveleigh’s monument
- But with less ornate detail
- Flanking columns are of grey marble
- Front of the chest are the kneeling figures of his son and 2 wives
- On the floor of nave and aisles several good C17 ledger slabs
Other information
A pretty site on the edge of town
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