Lustleigh Church of St John the Baptist Description
Lustleigh church sure has a pretty a church gate as ever is, especially when the flowers are in the full bloom
A description of Devon churches, useful and interesting, their history, art and treasures. Good to use as a guide or as a fascinating introduction.
Lustleigh church sure has a pretty a church gate as ever is, especially when the flowers are in the full bloom
And so we come the bench ends, treasures beyond compare, full of magical carving and deep social history…
The whole seems to have been rebuilt in the fifteenth century but I would lay good odds that the chancel (on the left) is on the original Norman footprint. Or was there a Saxon chapel?
The main part is fourteenth century, with alterations as ever, though the first mention of a church on this site dates from 1121.
There is nothing that beats a fine church on a fine day, and Ashwater church on a fine day is an absolute banger, or on any day come to that.
The church itself is a corker, a sweet exterior with wonders galore inside. This version is fifteenth century, there was a Norman one before.
It is a lovely church with its south tower and that delightful hood over the clock. The windows as well, and those goodly granite walls
The church itself is a corker, a sweet exterior with wonders galore inside. This version is fifteenth century, with various restorations.
Sampford Spiney church is proper Dartmoor, hunkered down high on its western edge, a marvel of rubblestone and granite, a dark cave inside.
It is work of sensational genius, of dazzling imagination, of a painter in stone, a master architect carving a remarkable vision
The calm of Kelly Church almost matches the outside, but as a mere youngster only about six hundred years old it still has a bit to learn about peace and awe.
Designed by a famous Arts and Crafts architect, W D Caröe, using the local red stone that almost glows, with magnifico stained glass
Awliscombe church of St Michael and All Angels is beaut. It seems to be mainly fifteenth century, though some put it a tad later.
Ashcombe Church is a rare example of thirteenth century Devon church, originally cruciform, a north aisle added in the sixteenth century.
A hoard of golden brown woodwork, the softly coloured granite pillars and the faded white plaster, all blossoming from the ruddy-red floor…
The present structure is relatively early for Devon, dating from the fourteenth century with fifteenth century additions.
The chancel here is said to be fourteenth century, and the rest of the church fifteenth with restorations, the whole is a beauty
Holbeton Church of All Saints is an explosion of creativity crossing several centuries, a rainbow coral reef with beauties darting in and out
Hittisleigh church is magic, just a delightfully captivating beauty, full of deep country charm and deep serenity
It has a well looked after interior too, even refurbished at the end of the 1600s which is quite unusual in these parts.
Walk up to the church from Frankland Ford Bridge, up a grass-green Devon hill, and Honeychurch smiles tenderly in welcome. It is a beauty.
Clayhidon is an enchanting parish with a little jewel of a church sitting up in the north with a simple, sweet interior.
An old church this, sitting on its hill commanding marvellous sea views. The present structure was built in the thirteenth century…
Inside a simplicity, granite pillars and old benches… sixteenth century, along with some delicious roofbosses, nice stained glass and…
Cracking church, mainly fourteenth century nave and chancel, with a fifteenth century north aisle. The tower is a bit of both…
It is a modest dainty, a perfect little Devon red stone church, a primroses in the spring kind of pleasant…
Entering Atherington church is a pause, a questioning, a bareness, aged woodwork and clear glass taking a moment to reveal their beauty
Small as it is, the church is the oldest attested in the Teign Valley, held by the Abbey of Buckfast in the Domesday Book…
A large space, beautifully lit, with fine pillars and a rood screen beckoning. The north side has two aisles, the outer one was added in 1858.
The oldest part of the present structure is Norman; deep sidewalls, the font, a possible Norman altar just on the right of the porch…
Most of the roads leading to Churchstow church rise so gradually that its positioning on top of the world is a shock…
Those attractive red stone arches gracefully flowing up the nave, dipping elegantly to meet the octagonal pillars…
Inside is a place of wondrous simplicity, every texture picked out by the granite-clear light streaming through the nave windows.
An extraordinary church, holding layers of historical beauty and set deep in the fields of glorious Devon, a total jewel.
It is a sweet little thing. Originally Norman at least, it was rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and added to in the fifteenth.
Mainly fifteenth century but goes backaways, as the Norman priest’s door shows and inside is a fine mixture of light and South Devon red stone
A charm of a church tower nestled into the western valley side so we can climb almost level with the top for a view worth the visit alone.
Swimbridge church is all about the woodwork, like so many of the gorgeous creatures in Devon, but this one has the dialled turned up to 11.
Dowland church is a small pearl and like most pearls it is all about the light. No bling, no glitter, just a rare beauty.
And this church too is a respectable church; a well cared for, solid Mid-Devon church, and that is high praise indeed.
The present Lydford Church of St Petrock dates mainly from the fifteenth century, like so many of the pretties here in Devon
Conquistador gold from El Dorado, pirated jewels from Spanish galleons, treasure chests trawled from the deep… how Mortehoe puts them all to shame!
WIth a spacious interior, medieval textiles, and lovely stained glass this church does justice to its beautiful coastal parish.
Entering a forest of pillars and an intricacy of woodwork dancing out to meet us.And a fifteenth century rood screen to die for.
A whimsical Victorian church on the edge of Dartmoor with a simple enchanting interior and an astonishing altar back by Christopher Webb
There are sixty-three sets of oak bench ends, all carved around 1537 and the most complete set in Devon if not the country
Inside there is an attractive sparseness along with a bit of mish mash of styles, from Norman to Victorian and various stops in between.
One of the most quietly intoxicating churches in Devon, full of faith, passion and beauty, carefully cared for through the centuries
Hidden away in the hills of west Devon, Marystow Church of St Mary the Virgin is so peaceful yet so rich in beauty.
It is a big barn of place, high ceilinged and lots of light, only a few stained glass windows, with a graceful arcade of granite pillars.
It is a fine little building too, with a very late tower, 1550 to be exact, with a Norman south doorway and a 15th century nave and chancel
Inside it is an ocean of deeply browned box pews lapping against gentle cliffs of crooked walls, whispering hello from the 18th century.
That tower is Norman, and that tiny chancel is also suspiciously small, early chancels were much smaller than later ones generally
It is a big church inside as well, light and airy with plenty of echoes. The nave and chancel, seem to be 14th century the rest 15th.
There is a lovely neatness inside, combined with the soft lighting that gently paints the browns and whites with glowing shades.
Inside Sheepstor church is a very clean space. Those granite pillars are a delight, it is a stone always with an interesting texture.
It is a lovely church, full of little pleasures, modest and charming as the best can be in deep rural Devon
Hidden high above the River Teign, deep in tumbling valley and loping hills, Bridford seems a universe away from the modern world.
The inside has been well partied up by renovators, that screen is early twentieth century, the whole is now a pleasing combination
The church is a doozy, with a probable thirteenth century tower, fourteenth century chancel and fifteenth century rest.
A sweet little church in a sweet little parish on a sweet little hillside up in north-west Devon; what is not to like?
Kentisbeare Church of St Mary has one of the best rood screens in the county along with other beauties that make it a total star
The church is a sweetie, built mainly from local stone and flint rubble. It is also unaltered fourteenth century and full of treasures.
Come and meet Halwill church, a very gentle church, in a very gentle parish, in a very gentle part of Devon, full of soft light and peace
A beautiful South Devon church, with the traditional big angular buttresses and that grey slate stone, half buried in the side of the hill
And this church is old too, its shape has been almost unaltered since the 13th century, though the north transept might be 14th
A finely pretty fifteenth century church sits at the heart of this field-draped parish running down to the mighty River Exe…
A beautiful 14th century church full of light and subtle windows, with plenty of pretty to keep us entranced, not least the wonderful pulpit.
Full of sensational woodwork and electrifying carving, one of the best preserved sixteenth century roodscreens in Devon and more, much more…
Inside simplicity reigns, and a beguiling atmosphere that just invites us to sit and wonder. A delightful and unusual church.
So we enter by the north porch and are plunged up to our waists in a sea of wondrous box pews, full of the browns of the universe.
It is a well-proportioned Victorian church set on a hillside with beautiful views, loved by the parish and everybody else.
A luminous space to sit and breathe with a light direct from heaven even on a cloudy day, though we do miss the hustle of church days
Throwleigh church has a stunning exterior, the weathered stone and the tall tower, and the different views from the hillside churchyard
The church is a lovely mixture of red and grey stone in a beautifully peaceful location and a very pretty churchyard.
Ermington church is magnificent, with a 13th century tower, 14th century spire and artful additions at various points thereafter.
The way he emphasises the arches with double or triple lines, the careful use of stained and clear glass to allow the light to splash around
The first thing that strikes us is the light, and then the space; a true grandeur, a memory of worlds lost, a loyalty to dreams of freedom
The nave is lovely bare stone with soft honey pews covered by a billowing cloud of a ceiling. A wonderful peace to wander into.
The church started life as a chapel of ease, first mentioned in the fourteenth century but with signs of thirteenth century work.
Inside simplicity dominates, but not plainness, definitely not that; simple stone, simple medieval screen, simple benchends, simple roofboss…
The structure of the church is a delight. The foliage carved capitals, the space, the chipped stonework, all these are worthy of our time…
A peaceful church, a quiet village, bypassed a hundred years ago by a new toll road, with a slim tower and the whole in Perpendicular style
Light, elegance and grace flood this House of Prayer, filling every corner and spilling back into the sky… and what a sky; a luminosity…
Inside this church is an astonishing range of little treasures, from medieval stained glass to beautiful Devon carvings. Stunning stuff.
The interior is bare, as churches preserved and cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust tend to be, and all the better for it; a sublime skeleton of stone and wood.
Inside is delightfully sparse, we can see the bare bones of the church, like the rock strata in the local cliffs, and looking closely the details start to come together until we gasp in love.
So the church is an ‘estate church’ and very much a preserve of the Clintons. Happily for us, back in 1873, one of them had formidable taste…
The arcades flow up from the box pews with exquisitely carved capitals and bear the high ceilings with consummate grace…
A flat-bottomed vale watered by a wandering stream, an oasis in the jumbled valleys of the Blackdown Hills, Dalwood is a pretty little find.
Outside, a charming exterior, heavily restored 1846, creating a little gothic dream in its prettily flowered churchyard in the middle of town; cared for with love.
The church has a magnificent old tower, possibly twelfth or thirteenth century, very rare for Devon, and a spectacular twelfth century rustic Norman doorway
The church is built from granite, as we would expect for a Dartmoor church, roughly shaped stones like the field walls streaming over the countryside.
The present church is late fifteenth or early sixteenth century and a petite beauty it is, along with its charm of a churchyard and the stream through it.
Stunning stained glass, beautiful woodwork, a red Norman font and an atmosphere of peace and care, Thurlestone is a wonderful church down in South Devon.
The church has been around for a bit, parts dating from the twelfth century, through the thirteenth and on to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth.
A glorious church with a Norman south tower and a striking spire, fascinating medieval benchends and roofbosses, and a very impressive interior.
A beautifully plain and simple Victorian church hidden deep in the wondrous West Devon landscape. The early 20th century stained glass is a treasure.