Description

BUCKFASTLEIGH

SX7466 CHURCH HILL
1011-1/7/1 (North side)
10/01/51 Parish Church of Holy Trinity

GV II*

Parish church. Spectacularly sited on a high hill and some
distance from the town below. C13 tower; chancel and transepts
possibly also C13 in origin; C15 aisles and chancel chapels.
Thorough restoration of 1844-45 to the designs of John Hayward
of Exeter included new roofs and the upper part of the spire;
severely damaged by fire on 20th of July, 1992. Smooth
cement-rendered (probably C19), the tower with earlier
roughcast (spire also roughcast); granite dressings; purple
natural slate C19 roofs with crested ridge tiles (except
chancel); cast-iron rainwater goods with Art Nouveau designs
on the hoppers.
Plan: nave; chancel; W tower; N and S chancel chapels; N and S
transepts, N used as organ chamber; 4-bay lean-to aisles; S
porch; vestry to centre N.
EXTERIOR: C19 in texture and detail; most of the window
mullions appear to have been renewed, several are variants on
the uncusped design with round-headed sub-arches, possibly
early C18 in date (cf Kelly parish church). The chancel, lower
roof than the nave, has a coped gable with a big C19 foliated
cross; 3-light Early English style E window with pointed
uncusped sub-arches; 2 small chamfered lancets to N & S sides.
S side has a probably C13 Early English hollow-chamfered
doorway predating the chancel chapel with a probably C16 plank
and studded door with a central cover strap over the hinges. 3
windows in the nave gable; 3-light in the centre with uncusped
sub-arches, flanked by roundels. S chancel chapel has set-back
buttresses with granite set-offs and an embattled parapet; E
and S 3-light Perpendicular style traceried windows.
N chancel chapel with plain parapet rising as gable to the
east. E & N windows similar to S chapel but N window with
crude replaced mullions; octagonal C15 rood loft stair turret
abuts N chancel chapel on N side. S transept has E and S
3-light windows with round-headed uncusped lights. N transept
has a square-headed 2-light E window, probably C16 in origin
with cusped lights. High-set Georgian 2-light arched timber N
window with intersecting glazing bars, probably to light a
former gallery.
N aisle has 2 unusual 4-light windows with depressed 4-centred
arched heads, uncusped round-headed lights and a small
round-headed light in the apex. N vestry has 3-light E window
with round-headed uncusped lights. S aisle has two 3-light
square-headed uncusped lights. S aisle has two 3-light
square-headed windows (heads renewed) with round-headed lights
and rustic carving in the spandrels; W window of 3 plain
round-headed lights.
3-stage W tower with no string-courses or pinnacles. Shallow
set-back buttresses and a plain corbelled parapet give an
effect of vertical panels to each face. 5-sided N stair turret
with an embattled parapet and slit windows. W face has a
hollow-chamfered arched doorway with a C19 or C20 W door;
3-light Early English style W window with uncusped sub-arches.
2-light square=headed belfry windows to W and S faces with
trefoil-headed lights; long slit window to S face. Somewhat
irregular spire dating from Hayward's restoration.
S porch has plain arched outer doorway with c1840s 2-leaf door
with flush panels below the middle rail and slats above.
Inside, the porch has a 2-bay 1844 roof matching the nave and
chancel, stone benches and a double-chamfered medieval inner
doorway with ribbed stops. 2-leaf late C18/early C19 panelled
inner door.
INTERIOR: plastered walls. Arcades with octagonal piers with
double hollow-chamfered arches and capitals; similar arches
into chancel chapels from the aisles and chancel. 2 of the N
aisle piers are monoliths and may be C19. Very tall, narrow
plain tower arch. Wide, double hollow-chamfered chancel arch
on moulded granite corbels which do not match one another.
Roofs of the 1840s by Hayward: 8-bay arch-braced nave roof
with a ridgeboard and 2 tiers of windbraces; similar 2-bay
transept roofs; unceiled lean-to aisle roofs might post-date
Hayward's work. Blocked C15 doorway to rood loft stair. Plain
arched sedilia; aumbry and piscina in the chancel, probably to
Hayward's designs.
Fittings: fine Norman font re-sited in the S transept with a
carved freestone bowl with some remains of colouring on its
original cylindrical stem with 4 added shafts. Probably late
C18 domed font cover. Late C19 timber drum pulpit with blind
tracery decoration. Fine set of box pews, mostly of 1844 with
blind traceried doors, one painted with 'reserved for
ringers'. The W end pews are probably earlier with panelled
doors and are banked up to the W end. Chancel with C19 brass
communion rail with foliage decoration and C20 choir stalls.
Memorials: two C17 slate slabs set into the floor, one in the
chancel and one in the S transept.
Stained glass: an interesting set, mostly by Beer of Exeter,
the E window of the S chancel chapel probably by Beer and
Driffield. Unfortunately the backgrounds of several of the
windows have been removed, leaving the figures isolated. S
window of the S transept by Powell & Son, designed HE
Wooldridge (Pevsner).
An early medieval church. The 1844-45 restoration and the Beer
stained glass represent an unusual combination of local
architect and craftsman.
The undated and unsigned architect's drawing in the porch
shows the proposal to re-site the font in the S transept.
Historical note: John Hayward of Exeter was the leading local
Gothic Revival church architect in the Exeter diocese in the
1840s and 1850s.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 226).

Listing NGR: SX7424166572

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535477

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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