Talaton Church of St James the Great Basics
Listed building grade 1
Regularly open
Address
Church of St James the Great
Church Lane
Talaton
Exeter
EX5 2RL
Geographical coordinates
50°47’22.7″N 3°19’27.7″W (enter these in your smartphone navigator)
Devonchurchland says…
Talaton Church lies just outside the village down a sweet little lane with a car park at the end, which is a joy in itself!
The whole outside is a joy too, with a charm of a churchyard, a quality porch and a magnificent tower still populated with medieval saint statues in their niches. Just wonderful.
Inside there is more beauty. The 15th century rood is one, the roofbosses are another, one set of roof bosses having a central pendant hanging down like stone vaulting.
And that is not to mention the medieval ceilure above the rood screen.
For stonework there is a very good Norman font and really top quality foliage carving on the pillar capitals. There is also an unmissable 17th century memorial in the tower room.
Top all these off with some goodly Victorian stained glass and a rare wooden royal coat of arms from the early 19th century and we have a church well worth spending time in, enjoying all.
Outline
PLAN
- Nave
- Lower chancel
- South aisle
- North aisle
- Vestry
- West tower
- South porch
AGE
- Tower is C15
- So too is the porch
- Most of the rest, or at least the outer walls, was rebuilt 1859 – 60
- Many earlier features, including roof structures, were retained
- North aisle complete new build of 1859-60
BUILT FROM
- C15 work coursed blocks of volcanic ashlar
- With Beerstone ashlar detail
- Front of the porch a chequer effect of Beerstone and volcanic ashlar
- C19 work is snecked grey limestone, volcanic quoins
- Bathstone detail
- Red tile roof
Exterior
WEST TOWER
- Tall
- Superior example
- 3 stages
- Diagonal buttresses
- Embattled parapet
- Corner pinnacles and gargoyles
- Semi-hexagonal stair turret on south side
- Rises higher than tower
- Surmounted by wrought iron weather vane
- Large 2-light Belfry windows
- Perpendicular tracery
- Upper stage is richly ornamented
- Buttresses and angles of the stair turret have image niches
- Some contain original statues
- Tower west doorway is 2-centred arch
- Moulded surround
- Including band of 4-leaf motifs
- Contains ornate C19 double doors
- Delicate applied tracery
- Above is a 3-light window
- Perpendicular tracery
- South side of the tower
- Light to the ringing loft is partly hidden by a C20 clock-face
SOUTH AISLE
- Diagonal buttresses
- 4-bay front
- Windows are 3 lights
- Regular Perpendicular tracery
- Another in the east end
SOUTH PORCH
- Good
- Late C15 early C16
- Left of centre
- Embattled Beerstone parapet
- Panelled with trefoils and quatrefoils
- Includes a central image niche
- With nodding ogee canopy and corbels carved as Green Men
- Cornice is enriched with 4-leaf motifs
- 2-centred outer arch has moulded surround
- Also with band of 4-leaf motifs
- Label stops of the hoodmould carved as angels holding shields
- South door is 2-centred arch
- Moulded surround
- Contains an old oak door
- Traceried coverstrips
NORTH AISLE
- Lower
- More unusual tracery
Interior
VARIOUS
- Tall Beerstone tower arch
- Panelled
- Moulded surround
- C19 chancel arch
- Springing from carved corbels
- South arcade is Beerstone
- 5 bays
- 1 overlapping the chancel
- Moulded piers
- Pevsner’s type B
- Carved capitals.
- 2-bay north arcade is a C19 copy.
- Plastered walls
- Medieval wall painting was found on the north wall of the nave in the C19
- C19 tile floor
- Increasing number of encaustic tiles through the chancel
- Norman font
- Hard grey stone
- Table-top type
- Simple arcaded frieze
- Main stem a plain cylinder
- Corner columns have waterleaf capitals
- Some C19 and C20 stained glass
FURNITURE AND FITTINGS
- Chancel is all C19
- East window flanked by painted Commandment boards
- Oak altar rail on simple Gothic arcade
- Pine stalls with poppyhead finials
- Simple Gothic enrichment
- C19 octagonal pulpit
- Panelled sides
- Good oak eagle lectern
- Most of the benches in the nave are C15
- Oak
- Same 2 tiers of cinquefoil-headed panels carved in their ends
- The other benches are C19 and C20
- Those in the north aisle are plain deal
- C17 oak altar table
- Turned legs
- In south aisle
- Nave includes a plain C17 oak chest
ROOFS
- Nave and south aisle have open wagon roofs
- Moulded ribs and purlins
- Carved oak bosses
- Nave includes a more ornate boarded ceilure
- Chancel has a completely C19 copy
- North aisle has a C19 open lean-to roof
- Gothic carvings
ROOD SCREEN
- Ornate C15 oak screen
- 8 bays
- Wainscotting is a blind Gothic arcade
- Windows with Perpendicular tracery
- Pevsner’s type A
- Coving is Gothic
- Delicately undercuts frieze of 3 bands
- With crest and vallance
- A fine example
- Parclose is also C15 oak
- Much plainer
- Square-headed windows
- Simple crest above
MONUMENTS
- South aisle
- Good collection from the C18 and C19
- Best one is in memory of Charles Harwood (d. 1718)
- Inscription on drapery under a vase
- Winged cherubs heads
- Tower room
- Dated 1613
- In memory of the Rev. John Leach
- First letters from each line of the elegy spell his name
- The plaque has a richly carved Beerstone frame
- Flanked by Corinthian columns
- Moulded entablature
- Scroll consoles
- Apron features a skull
- Flanked by hatchments
- Painted with the Kennaway arms
- Over south door
- C18 stucco Royal arms
Other information
This is a fine church in which high quality original work was respected during the Ashworth renovation. It is also most attractively situated on the edge of the village with fields behind and a good group of listed buildings in front.
South aisle is not quite full length, nor is the north aisle although the vestry occupies the north of the chancel
Norman font but church is C15.
Extensively rebuilt 1859 – 60 by Edward Ashworth, many of the old features were retained. Interior is good though heavily restored.
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0
