Widworthy Church of St Cuthbert Basics
Listed building grade 2*
Regularly open
Address
Church of St Cuthbert
Widworthy & Wilmington
Honiton
EX14 9JR
Geographical coordinates
50°47’16.0″N 3°06’58.0″W (enter these in your smartphone navigator)
Devonchurchland says…
A fourteenth century church, very beautifully kept and very original, sitting away from the main village in its own little area of peace. The stonework is delicious, chalky and flinty, it is only towards the Dorset border that we can see this in Devon.
Inside it is an enchanting white space, so well cared for, and such a pleasure to sit and gaze awhile.
The astounding treasures in here though are so unexpected and take the breath away. Monuments and memorials from various eras, some them worthy to compete with the best in the country.
The earliest is a fourteenth century knight’s effigy, very well preserved and with a lovely grand moustache.
Then there are a couple of seventeenth century wall memorials, one full of the original colouring.
Comparing the two is a delight, not only for their particular charms but also to see how fashion changed over a space only twenty years.
There is fabulous eighteenth century marble monument by Jon Bacon in the north transept; Bacon is called the Father of British Sculpture and boy does he deserve that term based on this wonder. It is superb.
Another eighteenth beauty, and then an early nineteenth one by Peter Rouw, an extremely famous and talented London sculptor. Again a marvel.
There are also various smaller and fascinating memorials around the church.
This is a real find here in East Devon, and well worth a visit both for the actual church as well as these ace memorials.
Outline
PLAN
- Cruciform
- Nave
- Chancel
- Both under a continuous roof
- North and south transept
- South porch
- West tower
- C19 vestry on north side of chancel
AGE
- Mid – late C14 on ancient church site
- Some late C15 – early C16 refurbishment
- C19 modernisation
BUILT FROM
- Local stone and flint rubble
- Beerstone and Hamstone ashlar detail
- Slate roof with crested ridge tiles
Exterior
WEST TOWER
- Single stage
- Low diagonal buttresses
- Embattled parapet
- Internal tower in north-east corner
- Belfry has 2-light windows with elliptical-headed lights
- West doorway is a 2-central arch
- Moulded surround
- Hoodmould with worn carved label stops
- Contains old double plank doors
- Directly above is a recessed plaque under a hoodmould
- Contains the conjoined 3 shields of Sir Willaim Prouz’s daughters
- North side contains a crank-headed light to the ringing floor
- And a cinquefoil headed light to the ground floor
SOUTH AND NORTH OF THE NAVE
- At the right (west) end a C19 Hamstone 2-light window
- Decorated tracery and hoodmould
- Carved human head label stops
- Another similar on the north side of the nave
TRANSEPTS AND CHANCEL
- Beerstone windows with Y-tracery, mostly 2 lights
- East window is 3 lights
- Chancel tracery is cusped
- Gables have shaped kneelers, coping and apex cross
- C19 vestry on the north side in Tudor Gothic style
- Including the Beerstone chimneyshaft.
- North transept has diagonal buttresses
- Beerstone and marble memorial in Gothic style
- In memory of Sir Edward Marwood Elton (d. 1884) at foot of the end wall.
PORCH
- Probable C16 porch has a lean to roof against the transept
- The outer arch a Beerstone 2-centred arch
- Broad moulded surround and plain hoodmould
- Directly above is a Beerstone sundial
- Alongside it a much older and disused base of another sundial.
- Plastered vault
- South doorway is a Beerstone 2-centred arch
- Hoodmould
- Worn carved label stops
- Much-restored pair of ancient studded plank doors with coverstrips
Interior
NAVE
- Restored ceiled wagon roof
- Moulded ribs and purlins
- With carved flat square bosses
- Transepts and chancel have plain plaster vaults of indeterminate date
- Low tower arch with moulded surround
- Plain chancel arch
- Double chamfered arch ring
- Both transept arches are C15
- Have moulded surrounds
- Half-engaged shafts and carved foliage caps
- Moulding is enriched with large carved 4-leaf motifs
- Walls are plastered
- Floor is mostly flagged
- Includes a couple of graveslabs in the chancel
- North transept floor is a chequer pattern of C19 tiles
- Gothic style oak tower arch was erected in 1951
- C15 Beerstone font with octagonal bowl
- Quatrefoil panels enriched with rosettes
- More rosettes around the base
- Panelled stem
CHANCEL
- South of the sanctuary a medieval Beerstone piscina and credence
- Under a cinquefoil head
- North wall of the chancel the original priests door
- Now leads into the vestry
- C18 fielded panel stalls and prayer desk
- Late C19 – early C20 Gothic lectern and pulpit
- Contemporary plain oak benches
- Sanctuary floor includes some contemporary encaustic tiles.
MONUMENTS
- North transept.
- A knight in armour and angels support his pillow.
- Set in a niche under a 3-centred arch
- Moulded surround enriched with 4-leaf motifs
- Reputed to be in memory of Sir William Prouz (d. 1329)
- And erected some time after his death
- A large and good quality memorial to James Marwood (d. 1767)
- By John Bacon
- Featuring 2 nearly life size white marble female allegories
- In bas relief
- Flanking a vase on a pedestal
- All on an orange marble ground.
- Another large monument to Sarah Marwood (d. 1797)
- White marble on a grey ground
- Featuring a mother with 2 children.
- The chancel
- 2 C17 mural monuments
- One, in memory of Alice Issac (d. 1685),
- A marble rectangular plaque flanked by Corinthian columns
- Carved flowers in the wings
- Moulded entablature
- Open pediment with cartouche and strapwork apron
- It retains traces of ancient colour
- Inscription has gone from the second;
- An oval marble plaque framed in a carved Beerstone cartouche of drapery
- Cherubs heads at the top
- Heraldic achievement in the apron.
- In the south transept
- Monument to Robert Marwood (d. 1733)
- An urn over the entablature
- Another in memory of James Marwood (d. 1811)
- By Peter Rouw the Younger
- Features 3 women grieving over a sacophagus
- On which is a medallion carved with his profile.
- Monument to Robert Marwood (d. 1733)
- The nave
- Plainer monuments to:
- The Reverend John Tucker (d. 1830)
- Thomas White, the Marwood estate steward (d. 1838)
- By Peter Rouw the Younger
- Jacob Soraster (d. 1733).
Other information
Built to the memory of Sir William Prouz (d. 1329) by his three daughters and co-heiresses
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0
