Description

NEWTON ABBOT

SX8671 DEVON SQUARE
1012-1/9/43 Church of St Paul
16/07/49

GV II*

Church. 1859-1861. By JW Rowell.
MATERIALS: squared Devon limestone rubble with freestone
dressings, slate roof hipped and swept to the eaves of the
5-sided apse which has a stone stack to the south side. Cream
freestone rustication to diagonal buttresses at quoins and
centres of the transepts; cream freestone pointed relieving
arches over lancet windows.
PLAN: cruciform plan with canted chancel end, vestry with
adjacent stack to south east and wooden bell turret; attached
to north east, and extnding eastwards, is a rectangular-plan
range with canted end.
EXTERIOR: gabled nave and transepts have stone crosses to the
parapets of the gables which have circular windows with
alternate red and cream voussoirs encircling 3 quatrefoiled
lights. Vestry has irrregular lancets and flying buttress
feature. Aisles to rear (west) of transepts have paired
lancets. Central buttresses are flanked by tall lancets. The
4-bay nave, articulated by offset buttresses has paired
lancets under wide relieving arches. Fine north porch has
alternate voussoirs of buff and grey to pointed moulded arch
on 2 orders of colonettes with dog-tooth carving; inner
chamfered arch, with decorative wrought-iron hinges to double
plank doors and brick arch framing stencilled lettering which
reads "This is the Gate of Heaven....".
A fine square-plan bell tower at the crossing is slate-hung at
the base; the painted timber belfry of 3 trefoil-headed open
panels with quatrefoils to the bases of each side is roofed by
a tall square spire offset at the eaves, with a cockerel
weathervane. Large west window with alternating buff/grey
voussoirs to wide segmental arch over triplet of windows with
colonettes and similar chamfered trefoiled lancets flanking
2-light plate-tracery window.
INTERIOR: timber-frame, cross-arched-braced roof on stone
corbels, making a striking openwork quadripartite form to the
crossing and the trusses of the five-sided apse fanning out
and resting on marble corbels; pointed-arched rerarches with
dog-tooth moulding, engaged colonettes and trefoil heads to
C20 stained glass windows; triple polished colonettes with
elaborately carved corbels above and below support a pointed
chancel arch of alternate red and cream voussoirs;

corbelled-out pulpit to the left has winding stone steps; fine
polychromatic tile chancel floor; oak communion rail with
brass scroll supports. Furniture includes original pews and a
1932 octagonal font with a granite plinth, red marble shaft
and cream freestone base and bowl. World War I memorial glass.
HISTORY: JW Rowell provided the designs for the development of
the Courtenay estate between c1840 and 1860, of which Devon
Square formed the centre.
A finely-detailed and "roguish" design by a prominent local
architect with a marked awareness of national trends and the
work of architects such as Teulon and Carpenter. Sited
prominently in the centre of Devon Square.
(BoE: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Devon: London: 1989-: 587).

Listing NGR: SX8642671192

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535706

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)