Description

BUCKERELL BUCKERELL
SY 10 SW

5/96 Church of St Mary & St Giles
22.2.55

GV II*

Parish church. The cruciform plan suggests a C13 or C14 core, the church is said to
have been dedicated in 1319, C15 alterations, restoration of the 1830s and 1840s
"under the direction of the present worthy vicar, Rev. Ed. Coleridge", (Spreat,
Churches of Devon, text to litho showing church in 1842), reseating of 1906 by R.W.
Sampson of Sidmouth Rendered stone, slate roofs.
Plan: Chancel, nave, west tower, north and south transept, south-east vestry. Date
of 1838 on south transept presumably refers to restoration, vestry presumably also
late 1830s.
Exterior: Chancel with buttresses to the east wall, 3-light C19 or C20 Perpendicular
traceried east window with a hoodmould and carved label stops (date 1900 on rainwater
head). The north side has a probably C19 2-light traceried window. On the south
side the chancel retains some probably C17 lead guttering decorated with a vine.
Circa late 1830s south-east Gothic vestry, gabled to the east and the south with a 2-
light C19 Perpendicular south window and a west door with a hollow-chamfered
doorframe carved with a black letter inscription "Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness" and a C19 plank and stud door. The nave has a 2-light C19
Perpendicular windows with hoodmoulds and 1-light cusped windows in the west and east
walls. The nave has 3-light C19 Perpendicular windows to the and south sides at the
west end. A decayed inscription in the gable of the south transept is recorded as
"This gable was built by subscription A.D. 1838". Edwin E. Coleridge, Vicar". 3
stage unbuttressed battlemented west tower with external steps on the north side.
West door with a moulded frame with an 1830s or 1840s text. "This stage unbuttressed
battlemented west tower with external steps on the north side. West door with a
moulded frame with an 1830s or 1840s text. "This is the gate of the Lord of
Righteous shall enter into it", C19 plank and stud west door. 2-light C19
Perpendicular west window with carved label stops; 2-light cusped belfry openings on
all 4 faces, square-headed opening below belfry stage on the west face, 1-light
cusped window on the south face.
Interior: Plastered walls. Probably C19 chancel arch wing into the walls with 2
orders of C19 texts over it; plain segmental arches into the transepts. Late C15/C16
ceiled wagon to the nave with shallow carved bosses; plastered ceilings to transepts
with thin moulded ribs along their axes; probably C20 boarded wagon to the chancel.
The chancel has a C19 piscina and aumbry and a late C19 timber and brass communion
rail. C17 style reredos with a frieze of round-headed timber arches, late C19 choir
stalls. 4-bay chancel screen, Perpendicular and said to have brought to the church
from eleswhere in the C19: medieval coving on both sides, the fenestration has been
altered. The nave has probably late C18 or early C19 box pews with fielded panels,
pulpit and lectern of 1911 and an early C19 Perpendicular style font with an
octagonal bowl decorated with tracery. The west gallery with a canted projection in
the centre has been considerably repaired, but retains some C17 brackets. The north
transept is fitted out with box pews including a large family pew with a panelled
dado.
Glass The chancel retains fragments of an early C19 scheme re-set on glass quarries
including a memorial window to Edward Coleridge on the north side and one to Eleauor
Northcote, died 1848, on the south side. North window of the north transept by
Warrington, probably late 1840s with texts on the window jamb. The east windows of
both transepts may also be by Warrington.
Monuments A purbeck marble ledger stone in the chancel commemorates Mary Fry, died
1669. The chancel retains several early C19 marble wall plaques, 2 signed Knight of
Exeter. The north transept has a fine monument to Admiral Graves by John Bacon, 1792
with a figure in relief in a roundel below an eagle and a tall tapering back plate.
Several early C19 wall tablets and, in the south transept, a rather unusual wall
monument to Alfred Ford, vicar, died 1904, signed Keith and Co. London. A brass
panel with a brass inlay border in a polished black frame with pink marble brackets
and 2 angles holding a Chalice. On the south wall of the nave a wall monument to
Isabella Sedgewick, died 1767 with needed jambs and brackets, crowned with an urn
with a flower festoon.
Hanging in the tower is a seating plan for intended seating in 1773. The south
transept is not shown. The plan is annotated by irritated parishioners complaining
that alterations had been made to it following the faculty.

Listing NGR: ST1232200363

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547494

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

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  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
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  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)