Description

SS 90 NW CADELEIGH CADELEIGH
5/57 Church of St Bartholomew
5.4.66
GV I
Parish church. Tower possibly late C14 ; north aisle late C15/early C16 ; nave and
chancel probably earlier in origin than either tower or aisle but there is little
surviving evidence for early dating ; internal refurbishment of 1766 (Pevsner) ;
considerable restoration work in the period 1900 - 1930, including the restoration of
the porch and addition of the vestry. Volcanic stone rubble, the nave and most of
the north aisle rendered ; surviving medieval dressings appear to be Beerstone, early
C20 dressings probably Bathstone ; slate roofs.
Plan: of nave, chancel, west tower, 5-bay north aisle (1-bay to the chancel), south
porch, north-west vestry. With the exception of the tower the exterior is fairly
modest with window tracery replacement in a free Perpendicular style. The tower is
unusual for the region in the survival of statuary. Internally the church is
remarkabe in having little sign of any C19 restoration.
The chancel has a circa early C20 3-light Perpendicular east window with a moulded
architrave and hoodmould. The south side of the chancel has a very small priest's
door with a depressed segmental chamfered arch and a probably C18 door. To the west
of the doorway is a 1-light cusped window with a moulded architrave and a hoodmould.
The nave is rendered and buttressed at the east end, with the porch in the first bay
from the west. Three 2-light early C20 windows have eclectic tracery combining
Perpendicular and Decorated motifs. The north aisle is rendered except for the
easternmost bay which is slightly battered. No east window. The easternmost window
on the north side, associated with the Leach monument inside, has a Tudor arched head
and 3 uncusped lights with old saddle bars and stanchions intact. The other 3
windows on the north side are similar in size and shape but with cusped lights and
are probably early C20. The 3-light west window is Perpendicular, heavily restored
in 1908. Flat-roofed battlemented vestry of 1908 by E. H. Harbottle (D.R.0) with a
3-light square-headed west window with cusped lights.
Fine 3-stage battlemented west tower with diagonal buttresses and a projecting north-
west stair turret with canted corners and a plain parapet. There are several unusual
features to the tower : notably the statuary, which is of a high quality. The best
surviving figure is under an ogee-headed niche on the stair turret. The niche is
decorated with crockets and blind tracery and a figure, St Anthony with his pig, is
vigorously carved. There are similar niches on the west and south faces but the
statue is missing from the west face and the figure on the south face is headless.
There are further statues under niches high under the battlementing on each corner
except the south west corner. Another unusual feature of the tower is the large
scale of the 2-light transomed belfry openings. On the north and south faces these
openings have blind quatrefoils above the lights ; on the west and east faces there
are plain chamfered volcanic arches to the lights. The north face has a trefoil-
headed opening at bellringers' stage below a square-headed hoodmould and a relieving
arch. The west door has a moulded segmental Beerstone arch with a hoodmould below a
3-light early C20 Perpendicular style window with a hoodmould with carved label
stops. The south face has a splendid bucket-sized lead rainwater head, probably C18.
The gabled porch, restored in 1922, is rendered on the left and right returns. The
Tudor arched chamfered doorway has high quality carved label stops of Queen Alexandra
and Edward VII. 1922 1-light shouldered window on the right return. The interior of
the porch has a ceiled wagon roof with moulded ribs ; the 2-centred inner doorway has
a roll moulding and 2 pyramid stops to each jamb.
Interior Predominantly C18 in character : shallow chancel, probably early C18 wall
plaster with a moulded cornice and decorative plaster panels on the nave and aisle
walls and the spandrels of the arcade (q.v. Cruwys Morchard Church), arcade painted
white ; chancel arch formed by easternmost rib of nave wagon. 5-bay arcade of
moulded Tudor arches on piers with corner shafts with good varied carved capitals.
The nave roof is a ceiled wagon with thin moulded ribs ; similar aisle roof with
medieval carved bosses including heads, sacred monograms and synbols as well as the
usual foliage. The chancel roof is a plain plastered waggon. Moulded, stopped tower
arch, partly concealed by nave roof, the bellringers chamber is floored with probably
C16 deeply chamfered intersecting beams.
The shallow chancel has no reredos and a C18 communion rail with alternate turned and
barleysugar balusters. The priests' door, although refaced on the exterior, is
probably late C17/early C18 with original hinges. C19 choir furnishings include a
traceried priests' desk and chair and a timber lectern supported on an angel corbel.
The nave has an 1890 timber drum pulpit with blind traceried panels, one with a
figure of St Bartholomew under a nodding ogee arch. The font, possibly recut and of
uncertain date is a square volcanic bowl with chamfered corners on an octagonal stem
and plinth. Complete set of circa late C18 box pews with fielded panels. Late
medieval floor tiles, a rare survival, mostly sited at the east end of the aisle.
Spectacular monument to Sir Simon Leach, Sheriff of Devon q.v. Cadeleigh Court
d.circa 1637, in the easternmost bay of the aisle. Two recumbent alabaster figures
on a chest with single figures at the head and feet under a round-headed coffered
arch supported on coupled Corinithian columns and crowned with a broken pediment and
achievement. The chest is decorated with paired Ionic columns and rows of kneelers
facing a prayer desk. The quality of the sculpture is high and the whole monument is
richly decorated and lit by the window which it surrounds, which is partly blocked by
an oval inscription panel. According to Cresswell the monument was probably erected
during Simon Leach's lifetime (will proved 1637), and although other members of the
Leach family are commemorated in inscriptions his name does not appear. The monument
was in a state of decay in 1903 when it was restored by Harry Hems of Exeter with
money raised by subscription. Another fine monument against the east wall of the
aisle, commemorating Leach's first wife, Bridget Higgons, d. 1691. Unusually urbane
for Devon, a green and yellow marbled pedestal on a plinth, crowned with an urn with
an inscription panel framed by a wreath on the front.
Other monuments include a C17 wall monument on the north wall of the chancel ;
inscription panel framed by Corinthian columns and crowned with skulls ; a C19
charity and memorial panel in a brattished stone frame on the south wall,
commemorating John Wood, died 1843 and a number of late C19 and early C20 wall
plaques including an 1890 brass to Thomas Hopkins Britton by Wippel of Exeter.
C19 stained glass includes a good east window, memorial date 1884, maker unidentified
; a south chancel window, memorial date 1877 based on the Light of the World. The
westernmost window in the aisle, memorial date 1921, is probably by Percy Bacon, the
window next east, memorial date 1902 probably Clayton and Bell.
A rare survival in Devon of a largely C18 interior, the medieval tower is also
outstanding.
Devon Nineteenth Century Churches Project.

Listing NGR: SS9140007918

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526465

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings