Description

TEIGNMOUTH

SX9373 EXETER STREET
25-1/4/145 (West side)
30/06/49 Church of St James (Parish Church of
West Teignmouth)

II*

Parish Church. Mid C13, rebuilt 1821, restored 1890 by
WH Lloyd of Birmingham, and 1953 after 2nd World War bombing
of the east end. 1821 church designed in Picturesque Gothic
style by WE Rolfe of London, built by Andrew Patey of Exeter.
MATERIALS: red sandstone rubble C13 tower, strap-pointed
squared grey Plymouth stone with cream limestone and rendered
dressings to the rest.
PLAN: square-plan tower, octagonal plan nave of 1821 connected
to the tower by a short 2-storey passage.
EXTERIOR: the 3-stage tower, restored 1929, approx 10m square
at the base, has a moulded pointed arch to the planked west
door, a high rendered plinth, 2 wide buttresses up to the 1st
stage of the east front and one to the south corner, and the
parapet all probably 1929. The 2nd-stage has one lancet window
and a wider belfry opening above, the top of which is partly
covered by an 1896 open wrought-iron clock face; the 2nd stage
of the left return has a segmental arch to a blind window and
a similar clockface; the right return has a C20 leaded lancet
window to the base, a blocked window with limestone jambs to
the 2nd stage and a similar clock face over a louvred lancet
opening to the 3rd stage.
The octagonal nave to the rear of the tower has a rendered
castellated parapet and octagonal buttresses to each angle.
Tall pointed-arched leaded windows of pale green glass have
hollow-moulded mullions and some transoms to 2 and 3-light
windows with intersecting tracery. The nave is crowned by a
central octagonal slate-hung lantern with a castellated
parapet and wide pointed-arched windows with lace-like
tracery.
The late C19 vestry to the south-east angle is more
traditional in style. Plymouth stone with freestone parapet,
heavy sill string course and architraves. 4 granite steps up
to a central planked door in a chamfered architrave with
roll-moulding and curved upper corners flanked by
cinquefoil-headed 2-light windows, one to the left, paired to
the right. The late C19 south porch in the style of the 1821
building, though smaller in scale, has a door in the left
return of 2 rows of 3 trefoil-headed panels,
INTERIOR: remodelled and re-pewed in 1890 when the gallery,

except for that at the east end, was removed. The roof is
exceptional; supported by a circle of 8 ribbed cast-iron
columns approx 10m high, cast-iron rib vaults fan out from
each to form an umbrella-like strucure. The central lantern
has similar vaulting; 8 panels below the windows each have
paired hemi-spherical-arched niches with trefoil heads flanked
by moulded panels. The walls of the tower are approx 1.5m
thick at the base.
FITTINGS: include a massive medieval 6.7m high oak ladder to
the north-west corner of the tower up to the belfry, with
stiles of pit-sawn wych-elm 0.26m x 0.13m and oak rungs 0.11m
x 0.05m; the central panels of the C14 Decorated-style Massy
stone reredos are flanked by C19 panels dating from 1891
restoration. Font, pulpit, organ, bells, hatchments etc are
C19 or C20.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the C13 church was consecrated in 1268, and
the unbuttressed tower was believed to be part of the town's
defences. Patey's church, principally distinguished by an
octagonal lantern supported on cast-iron columns with a
remarkably elegant vault, is his most ambitious church design:
the early use of structural cast iron is also significant,
echoing the work in other early C19 churches such as Dudley.
The church booklet claims William Bragg of Westbrook House as
the patron and Andrew Patey as architect; Pevsner claims Rolfe
as architect and Patey as builder.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Devon:
London: 1989-: 796).

Listing NGR: SX9393973098

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535792

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

• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)