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Things New and Old Item 5: The Widecombe Church

Home » What to Read » Things New and Old » Things New and Old Item 5: The Widecombe Church



This is the fifth item from Robert Dymond’s book: “Things New and Old Concerning the Parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor and its Neighbourhood” (1876)

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WIDECOMBE CHURCH

Architecture

“HOW DREADFUL IS THIS PLACE” &c., (Gen. xxviii. 17). Such was the inscription that greeted the congregation as they enteredtheir Church at Widecombe but a few years ago. The text was displayed in florid paint on a white-washed ground, in true oldchurchwarden taste, over the door of the south porch. It was certainly applicable, in its literal modern sense, to the condition ofthe interior. The edifice was in a truly “dreadful” state of disrepair. The roof, neither wind nor water tight, was feebly upheld by rottingrafters. The distorted tracery of the granite windows could scarcely retain their leaded panes. Green streaks shewed where the drivingrain had trickled down the walls. To judge by appearances, the white-washers had been the only artificers employed there for manya long year. Much of this has since been amended. The Chancel was “restored” in 1868 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, ownersof the great tithes of the parish. There was a certain want of harmony in their work with the grand and rugged character of theedifice, but it was plain and workmanlike, and served to throw into stronger relief the need of reparation in the rest of the structure.In appealing to the landowners of the parish, so lately as September, 1873, the Vicar described the condition of the roofs, especially thatof the north transept, as “truly dangerous ; for the holes in them, in some places, and the glimpses of light we get by carefully lookingin others, are due, not to the mere casual blowing off of slates, but, as examination has proved, to the decay of timber, and to the rottingboth of wall-plates and principals. One of these roofs has fallen perceptibly of late, and is now sunk below the crown of the finegranite arch in the tower. There is money enough collected to enable us to take this roof in hand at once, and we may hope to seeit put into a more satisfactory state before the end of the month.” This has since been accomplished, “but,” continues the Vicar, “theroofs of the north and south transepts, and of the north aisle (the timbers of which, we have reason to fear, are very much decayed), we cannot touch unless you supply the means of doing so. There is plentyof room for an outlay in the Church of several hundreds of pounds, on matters not of mere ornamentation, but of necessity, in order toassure—i.e., the stability and decency of the fabric—and to preserve to future times, in a condition that shall be no disgrace to presenttimes, a fine old witness to the faith and piety of those who have worshipped and gone before, and were not content to offer unto Godthat only ‘which did cost them nothing.’” Many of the landowners responded to the Vicar’s appeal, and as much has been done as thelimited means so raised would allow. The worst parts of the roof have been renewed in a true spirit of restoration, consistently withthe bold simplicity of the building, but with no luxury of ornament, no breaking forth into petty detail. The deal hutches, or pews,have been removed. The singers’ gallery has disappeared, as the melody of their pipes and fiddles had long ceased to be heard. Gone,too, are the red and yellow ochre scrolls, enclosing texts, daubed on the walls during that most debased period of British taste, themiddle of the Georgian era. The funds that have been raised during the present year have enabled the Building Committee toenter into a contract for the more complete restoration, which is in progress as we write.

The architectural features of the Church are described by Mr. James Hine, F.R.I.B.A., in the following paper read by him at thePlymouth Athenaeum, on the 9th November, 1874 :—- The Church of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, dedicated to St. Pancras, is,on account of its size and the beauty and importance of its tower, sometimes called “ the Cathedral of the Moor.”

The romantic scenery around, with the rugged tors of Honeybag, Bel, and Chinkwell, rising above the village, is made still morepicturesque by the noble granite tower of the parish Church, and the quaint and thoroughly old English almshouses on the north side of thevillage green. What true artists were the mediaeval architects, whose works, so far from detracting from the beauties of nature, actuallyemphasize and supplement them, and are points of interest in almost any English landscape.

Widecombe Church is throughout Perpendicular in style, the eastern portions of early character for the most part, and the tower andmuch of the work in the north and south aisles, including the square- headed windows, late perpendicular.

The extreme internal length is nearly 104 feet, and the plan consists of nave, west tower, north and south aisles and transepts, chancel,with north and south chantry aisles. Vestry on north side of north chantry. Porch on south side. Excepting, perhaps, some fragmentsof masonry in the transept, there is no existing work earlier than that of the 15th century.

The chancel is 23 feet in length by 15}, feet in width, and has an east window of four lights, with double tracery and a quatrefoil in the head.The roof is of the cradle kind, so usual in Devonshire, and has many of the original bosses, which are carved and painted. The subjects are heads, flowers, and leaves: one has a half figure of S. Catherine. It is to be regretted that in the restoration of this chancel during a former incumbency the original wall plates, which were of much interest and had on them figures of heads, the white hart of Richard II., and a griffin, were destroyed, and ordinary stained deal plates substituted for them.

I do not presume to attribute blame to anyone in this matter. It is possible that the plates may have been too much decayed to have allowed of their being refixed, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that when such things disappear, the artistic and historical interest of a building goes largely with them. It is impossible to restore a church in too conservative a spirit.

The south window of the chancel is square-headed and of two lights. Below it is a priest’s doorway, which is cut diagonally through thewall to leave space for the piscina. This is an arrangement to be seen in neighbouring churches. There is a square-headed sedilia, and anaumbrey.

The upper portion of the rood-screen has been destroyed, but the lower panels remaining contain figures of our Lord, SS. Peter, Thomas, Bartholomew, James, and Sebastian. Also a king and queen, and several bishops and doctors of the Church.

A four-centred moulded granite arch communicates with the aisle on each side of the chancel, the arch resting on an octagonal pillar having a plain splayed capital.

The roofs of both north and south chancel aisles and of the transept are of the cradle form also, and though in a sad state of decay, are ofinterest as retaining all their original features. These particular roofs were never open to the ridge, indeed the original oak boarding to thearched ribs remains. The bosses contain flowers and fruit, and show some exquisite bits of carving, and the cornices are well moulded withflowers set on hollows.

[Referring to the use of tin in Alchemy, and to the connection of theabbey of Tavistock with the tin works of Dartmoor, Mr. R. J. King observes that “the roof of the Church of Widecombe-in-the-Moor,said to have been immediately connected with the miners, exhibits many figures which obscurely shadow forth the learning of theAlchemists. On one of the bosses is a singular combination of three rabbits, each with a single ear, which join in the centre, thus forminga triangle. Allusion is made to this figure in the will of Basil Valentine, where it is called the hunt of Venus. Rabbits, it is wellknown, were a favourite Alchemical symbol, and occur more than once in the curious plates with which Vaughan supplied EliasAshmole for his edition of Morton’s ‘Ordinal of Alchemie.’”]

Below the intersection of the transept and aisle roofs, and over the opening to the former, are moulded arches formed of oak. These are unique features which should be most carefully preserved. The east window of the north chancel aisle is of three lights. The label springs from two heads, and at the point of the arch is a head of the Virgin crowned. In the tracery of this window are fragments of ancient glass with the Courtenay Arms and St. George’s Cross.The east windows of the transept are three light also and are the earliest and best in the Church, indeed there is a second pointed character about them.

The arcade on each side of the nave consists of five bays. The portion of the roofs which covers three of these bays westward is between four and five feet higher than that of the eastern portion of thenave, and this double level of the nave roof has a peculiar external appearance. It may be accounted for in this way : the tower is oflater date than the Church, and is said to have been voluntarily built by a company of successful tinners who had worked some neighbouring mines. They did not regard cost, and were only desirous that their tower should be, as it is, the glory of the moor. They gave it, therefore, an elevation of more than ninety feet and designed a. lofty arch to open into the church, which arch, however, they found rose considerably above the then existing roof of the nave. Thinking, perhaps, more of the tower than of the appearance of the rest of the Church, they raised the western portion of the roof (both of nave and aisles) leaving the eastern part on its original level. This supposition is borne out by the appearance of the masonry, and the indications in the north and south aisle walls that the sills of the windows have been raised. There is nothing, in my opinion, to bear out satisfactorily the other conjecture that the Church originally terminated further eastward than now, andthat the three bays were added when the tower was built. The pillars, arches, and roof all correspond in detail, and the masonry of the toweris almost independent of that of the chancel, showing clearly, I think, that it was a separate erection.

For beauty of proportion this tower has been compared to Magdalen Tower, Oxford, and for sharpness and finish of detail it probably may rank first amongst the granite towers of the west. It is in three stages, and from the plinth to the parapet is exceedingly bold and effective in style. It terminates at the top with a fine battlement and large and handsome octagonal pinnacles five feet in diameter, each crocketed and surmounted with a cross.

This noble tower, built by men who gave of their wealth to God, and who said—

‘High Heaven rejects the lore

Of nicely calculated less or more,’

has suffered no injury from time, or the ruder hand of the so-called’ reformer; ‘ but it is sad to see the Church, erected by our pious fathers of the 15th century, not only now shorn of its original embellishments and of much of its proper furniture, but in places actually ina ruinous and dangerous condition. Something has already been done towards its restoration, but much more remains to be done.[In January last, an old Gothic doorway, with granite jambs and arch, in the north chantry aisle of the church, leading to ashort newel stair of twelve steps (the ascent to the rood loft) was cleared of plaster and white-wash, and opened to view. The steps,which are perfect, were completely buried under a mass of rubbish, in the midst of which, however, was a slight treasure-trove fof theecclesiastical archaeologist, in the shape of three small granite crosses, each 29 inches high, one having an incised cross in the centre betweenthe arms, and a piece, about twenty inches long, of the octagonal shaft of the cross, which used to stand in the churchyard near the entranceto the south porch. Doubtless, these relics of the old church were bundled in there ignominiously, and walled up as offences and stumbling blocks, when Cromwell ruled, and worshipful mayors of Tottenes(Totnes) led the exercises, and squires Whiddon and Reynell joined in marriage the Moor-men and Moor-maidens in Widecombe Church.They must have lain buried, therefore, about 220 years. Their original site is at present a matter of conjecture.]

To this architectural description we may add the following historical and archaeological memoir.

History and Archaeology

This is one of the many churches in England, France, and Italy,dedicated to the youthful St. Pancras. He is said to have been beheaded at Rome in the 14th year of his age, for the faith which the had gloriously confessed, under Dioclesian, in the year 304, and wasinterred in the cemetery of Calipodius, which afterwards took his name. (*Butler‘: Lives of the Saints.) The present church was erected late in the 15th century,either on or near the site of a more ancient building, founded at an unknown date.

Of the existence of this earlier church, we meet with ample evidence amongst the Chapter Archives in the Exchequer room over St. Andrew’sChapel, in Exeter Cathedral. These include a deed under which Roger, son of Sir Ralph le Rous, of an ancient family seated at Modbury, sold to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter an acre of land, atWydecomb, with the advowson of the Church of St. Pancras, and the Chapel of St. Leonard, at Spikewyk. Certain fragments of carvedstonework, which have been disinterred immediately behind the present mansion at Spitchwick, and the fact that the field in the rearof the house still bears the name of Chapel Park, would seem to determine the site of the latter edifice. The acre of land is describedas adjacent to the mother church of the parish, and as lying in Wodehaye [now Wooda or Wooder] hard by the sanctuary of thechurch, and extending lengthwise from the west part of the said sanctuary as far eastward as the highway leading from the churchtowards Dunsterton [Dunstone]. The grant was in perpetuity subject to rendering yearly to the lord of Wydecombe one pair of candle-sticks,or one penny, at the feast of St. Michael, for all secular service, as was set forth in a deed, by which the manorial lord, Ralph, the son ofRichard, had granted the property to Roger le Rous the grantor. The Dean and Chapter, on their part, undertook to pay ten silver marksyearly out of their Exchequer at Exeter for the performance of divine service annually in their Cathedral, in good memory of the late DeanRoger de Thoriz, who had died on the 29th April, 1274. Amongst the witnesses to the deed were Thomas de Pyn, then Sheriff of Devon,Roger de Prydiaus (Prideaux) and Ralph le Rus, Knights, and William de Spikewyk. Masses were celebrated in accordance with the grantuntil the Reformation, but, as the property was devised for a ‘superstitious use,’ it fell by the Statute of Chantries, in Edward VI’s time to the Crown, but was again granted by Queen Elizabeth to the Deanand Chapter, and, finally, re-granted to them at the Restoration. With this deed is Bishop Quivil’s Appropriation of the advowson bythe institution of John, the son of Richard, as vicar of the parish, and providing that the masses for the repose of the soul of Roger de Thorizshould be celebrated by a pious and honest chaplain, deputed by the Dean and Chapter, at the altar of SS. Richard and Radigund, at thewestern door of the Cathedral, where the Dean’s body was interred. The document proceeds to arrange for the distribution of the ten silvermarks, and sets forth the details of the ceremonial and the persons who are to take part in it. It is dated on the morrow of the Purification of the blessed Mary, in the year 1283.

There is also a Bond by Ralph, the son of Sir Richard and Roger le Rous, rector (sic) of the Church of Nordhull [North Hall, the ManorHouse], reciting that Ralph had sold to the said Roger the acre of land in his lordship of Wydecumb, together with the advowson, for eightysilver marks, for his own use, and twenty silver marks in augmentation of the dowry of his daughter, and that thirty marks had already been paid by Roger, who bound himself to discharge the balance byinstalments. The bond is witnessed by the same persons as the grant, and is dated at Exeter the Saturday before the Feast of the Nativity ofthe blessed Mary, 11th Edward I. (l283) (* A copy of this document in the original Latin is given in the Appendix to Rowe’s ‘Perambulation of Dartmoor.’)

In the same Exchequer room we have been favoured with an opportunity of inspecting several other documents relating to the church. One of these confirms the fact of its existence at a still earlier date,and shows how a large portion of the forest of Dartmoor, extending beyond Two Bridges, came to be attached, for certain ecclesiasticalpurposes, to the parish of Widecombe. It is dated at Crediton the 13th Kalends of September, 1260, and sets forth that theBishop, understanding by the assertion of men worthy of credit that certain parishioners of Lidford inhabiting the villages of Babbeneyand Pushyle are so very far distant from their mother church that they cannot on account of the great distance visit the church as becomesthem, commissions the Archdeacon of Totnes to certify after inquisition whether these men be able to erect a house of prayer, also what parish church is nearest to the said villages, and what is the distanceto the mother church. The Bishop, having found by the Archdeacon’s certificate that these villagers were by no means able to erect a houseof prayer, that the parish church of Widecombe is nearest to them, and that the mother church of Lidford is in fair weather distant eightmiles, and in winter at a circuitous distance of fifteen miles, and having called the rectors of these two churches before him, proceeds toordain that the said inhabitants, while remaining parishioners of Lidford, may henceforth hear divine service and receive the sacraments at Widecombe, and they were to contribute with the parishioners ofWidecombe to the repair and building of the church and enclosing the churchyard there. They were also to observe the customs of thatchurch, and pay towards it the tithe of lambs. Nevertheless, in token of subjection and parochial rights, they were to ‘offer’ once a year atLidford Church, and pay all tithes there, except that of lambs. This document was produced in 1816, at the trial of the action Norris v.Kelly and Savile, which was brought nomminally against the defendants for granting a warrant of distress for poor rates, but really to establishthe claim of Widecombe parish to inclu[d]e this portion of the forest of Dartmoor within its boundary. The judge had considered the plaintiff’s case almost conclusive, but the production of this evidence turnedthe scale in favour of Lidford, to which the disputed district has since been attached.(+ These three documents will be found quoted in the original Latin in the Rev.Dr. Oliver’s History of Exeter Cathedral.)

On the 6th June, 1285, King Edward I., by letters patent, licensedSerlo de Lanladron to assign the church of Widecombe to the Dean and Chapter.

Widecombe church is one of several mentioned in a Roll of the Visitation of R. de Morcestria and T. de Stapleton ‘super defectibus ecclesiarum maneriorum’ in the year 1313.

At another Visitation in the 14th century, it was found that the porchwas badly secured and kept, and that an arch in the chancel needed repair. The following early reference to Widecombe church and beneficemay be noted in addition to those in the above-mentioned records of the Chapter :-—

On the Wednesday after the Feast of St. James, 1315, occurs an ordinance of Bishop Stapleton reciting an order of Bishop Quivil thatthe churches of Broadhembury, Widecombe, and Constantine should be appropriated to the use of the canons present at the greater refection, and adding thereto the profits of the church of Thorverton, and apension of four marks from the church of Dunsford.

In a post mortem Inquisition held 13 Ed. I. (1285) the church isenumerated amongst the possessions of the Dean and Chapter. It is also included in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas IV. in1288—91, when the annual income was set down at £14 4s. 0d., and the vicarage at £3 4s. 6 1/4d. This Taxatio, it will be remembered, was forthe purpose of ascertaining the yearly produce of all ecclesiastical benefices, one-tenth of which belonged to the Pope, who granted hisshare for a term of ten years to King Edward I. to defray the expenses of his expedition to the Holy Land. In the later valuation under Henry VIII., made in 1536, and known as the Valor Ecclesiasticus, Wydecombe, with its glebe, was set down at £10 10s. 0d.per annum. Amongst ‘the Chapter archives is a lease, dated 9 August, 4 Ed. IV. (1551) by which John Pollard, archdeacon of Barnstapleand vicar of Widecombe, granted the vicarial property, except the mansion place of the vicarage and certain fields, to his brotherAnthony Pollard, Esq., for a term of forty years, at a yearly rent of £25 13s. 4d. In the composition made between the vicar, RobertHiche, with his parishioners in 1586, the annual produce of the vicarial tithe of hay for the whole parish is stated at about thirty shillings.There is documentary as well as architectural evidence of the non- existence of the present church in the early part of the 15th century.John Shillingford, Canon of Exeter and Rector of Ugborough and Shillingford St. George, and one of the North Hall family, by his will,proved 16th October, 1406, desired to be buried ‘ in capella B. Kateryne in the parish church of Widecombe, near his honoured mother, ‘ut ubi habui primum Salve, ibi recipiam ultimum Vale.‘ No chapel of St. Catherine can be recognised in the present church.

Monuments and Inscriptions

The interior of Widecombe Church contains no monumental effigiesand but few inscriptions. The noble or knightly owners of the parish had their chief places of residence elsewhere. The Elfords of Shipstor(now Sheepstor) were probably as closely connected with Widecombe as any of our county families, and that this connection lasted, in theircase, to a comparatively late period, is testified by the extracts from the parish registers in another page. John Elford married fourwives, viz., Elizabeth, a co-heiress of the ancient race of Coplestone, 2ndly, a sister of the first Sir John Northcote, 3rdly, Mary Gale. Hislast wife was probably a Wollocombe. The death of the third, a year after her marriage, is commemorated on a tablet in the north wall ofthe chancel, and the inscription is reproduced below as nearly as the form of modern type will allow. By substituting the letter v where uis employed, the reader will readily trace the sentiment intended to be conveyed, in spite of the obscurity of the composition. The Anagramand Chronogram were favourite conceits with our forefathers, in their monumental inscriptions. The letters of the name Mary Elford formthe words Fear my Lord. By taking out the larger capitals in the Latin sentence at the foot, and adding them together as Roman numerals, we find her age-25. The remaining large capitals will add up to1642, the date of her death. Over the tablet is a sculptured shield, on which are quartered the arms of Elford and Scudamore, an heiressof which race had brought the Sheepstor property. Shields on either side of the tablet bear the arms of Elford and Gale respectively, andbelow is one displaying Elford impaled with Coplestone, Northcote, Gale and Wollocombe

TO THE MEMORIE OF

MARY THE THIRD WIFE OF IOHN ELFORD OF

SHITSTOR, Esqr., WAS HEER INTERRED FEBR. YE 16,

A° 1642, HAVING ISSVE AT A BYRTH MARY & SARAH,

Wed. poesie.

AS MARYES CHOYCE MADE IOHN REIOYCE below

Soe was her losse his heauie crosse most know

Yet lost she is not sure but found aboue

Death gave her life t’imbrace A dearer love

Anagr { MARY ELFORD }{FEAR MY LORD}

Then FEAR MY LORD whilst yet yu mou’st on mold

That soe those armes that mee may thee infold

Neer twelve moneths day her maridge heer did pass

Her heavenly nuptiall consummated was

She fertile prou’d in soule and bodye both

In life good workes at death she twyns brought forth

And like A fruitfull tree with bearing dy’d

Yet Phoenix like for one there two suruiu’d

Which shortly posted their deare mother alter

Least sin’s contagion their poore soules might slaughter

Then cease your sad laments I am but gone

To reape aboue what I belowe haue sowne

A° aetat } {VIXIt obIIt sVperIs

MarIa GaLe IohannI eLforD VXor tertIa

heV) obIIt eX pVerperIo } {Erectum fuit A° 1650.

In repairing the Chancel of this Church, in 1868, a tombstone was broken in pieces. It was of rotten slate, past preservation,and the fragments now lie in the church-yard against the east end of the church. Its curious inscription was fortunately copied by theRev. P. Carlyon, then vicar, and recorded by him on a page of the old register book as follows :—

‘Here lyeth Richard Langworthye of Lyztwill, Gent. he was buryed the xviiith daye of July in the year of our Lord God 1617.

The man whose Bodye

Here doth lye

Begann to live

When he did die.

Good both in life

And death he proved

And was of God

And man beloved

Now he lyeth

In heaven’s joye

And never more

To feel annoye.’

The prose portion of this inscription is cut in a border round the four sides of the stone while the rhymes occupy the central part. TheLangworthys of Lizwell appear to have been an offshoot of a family seated at Hatch Arundell. That they were persons of mark in thisparish is manifest from the designation of “ Esquire” or “ gentleman ” amongst the plain names of other feoffees in the ancient parochial trustdeeds, and from the shield of arms on their seals affixed to these documents.

In the pavement of the church floor, just where the centre lines of nave and transepts intersect, is a large oblong slab of granite coveringthe remains of Roger Hill, one of the victims of the great storm of 1638, and of his widow, who survived him for ten years. Round thefour sides may be read

HIC IACENT CORPORA ROGERI HILL GENEROSI ET ANNAE VXORIS EIVS.

Within an inner horder are the words

VIR OBIIT 21 OCTOBRIS 1638 VXOR AVTEM 17IANVARII 1648.

In our notes on the Parish Registers and in theaccount of the great thunderstorm will be found further references to the Hill family. Their principal residence was at Shilston near Modbury and their pedigree was deemed worthy of record by the Heraldsin their Visitation of 1620. Roger is there mentioned as the eldest son of Oliver Hill of Shilston by Agnes his wife, daughter of RogerBudockshead, of Budockshead, in Devon. It appears from Westcote’s account of Shilstone that the family estate there was alienated soonafter the date of the Visitation and passed to the Saverys. Adjoining the gravestone of the Hills is a similar slab bearing a simple cross inthe centre with a border round the sides apparently intended to be occupied by an inscription at a later date.

Next in point of antiquity is a gravestone in the floor, at the east end of the south aisle, bearing the following words cut round the border:

HERE WAS BVRIED MARGERY THE WIFE OF

ROBERT HANNAFORD OF LANGWORTHY.

The centre of the stone is occupied by a cross at the foot of which are added the words,

WHO DIED THE XIX IVNE 1673.

In the floor, where the centre lines of north aisle and transept intersect, is a granite slab having this inscription in a border round thefour sides:

HERE LYETH THE BODY OF IOHN BOWDEN

WHO WAS BVRIED THE 3 OF IVNE 1675.

It is possible, that in the course of reseating the church similargravestones may be brought to light, but our present account of these memorials must close with a slate tablet, in the wall at the west endof the north aisle, inscribed ‘In memory of Mary ye wife of John Andrews, of this Parish, who departed this life January ye 30th, 1736,aged 66 years.’

It is scarcely possible to conceive a position more advantageous thanthe lofty tower in the Vale of Widecombe for the music of the church bells. They are six in number, and vary from 30 1/2 to 43 inches indiameter. Each bears an inscription, which is given in the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe’s work on the Church Bells of Devon, as follows :—

(1) C & G MEARS FOUNDERS LONDON 1848. HEAR ME WHEN I CALL. REV J. H. MASON VICAR.
I NOSWORTHY )
H EASTERBROOK ) CHURCHWARDENS
(2) The same, with the following : ATTEND O YE PEOPLE
(3) ROBEART I HAMLYN | SONNE | OF | IOHN | HAMLYN | CHITTELFORD | T. P. 1632 GATHERED -|- OF -|- THE -|- YOUNG -|- MEN -|- AND -|- MAYDS -|- FYFTENE -|- POVNDS
(4) MR. IOHN HEXT & MR. GEORGE LEAMEN CH:WARDENS. THOMAS BILBIE FECIT 1774
(5) SOLI -|- DEO -|- DETER -|- T. P. 1663
(6) DRAW -l-NEAR -|- VNTO + GOD -|- AND -|- GOD -|- WILL -|- DRAW -|- NEARE -|- VNTO -|- YOU -|- T. P. 1632

The initials T. P. on 3, 5, and 6, are placed between the figure of a bell, and are the mark of the founder, Thomas Pennington, ofExeter. The two trebles were cast by Messrs. Mears, in 1848, from a fine tenor which was crazed.

Incumbents

With the courteous aid of the Chapter Clerk, we have been enabledto compile the following list of the Vicars of the Parish from the Registers in Exeter Cathedral and other sources :—

  • Edward Fyche, or Fishacre ?
  • Richard Madeford, exchanged with Fische, 1390, 1400?
  • Peter Duke, 1405.
  • Hugh Bickleigh, died 27th October, 1532. Also Vicar of Ilsington.
  • Richard Barber, on whose resignation
  • Peter Mainwaring was presented 28th December, 1532, and dying was succeeded 11th January, 1549, by
  • John Pollard, Archdeacon of Barnstaple, who being deprived, was followed by
  • John Blaxton, Sub-Dean, 13th April, 1554, in loco Pollard.
  • William Wrightsworth, presented 11th August, 1554.
  • Robert Hiche, buried 5th January, 1590.
  • Robert Ellis
  • Clement Ellis, living 1592 ; died 1636.
  • George Lyde, presentation 6th March, 1636.
  • John Tickle, presentation 23rd May, 1674.
  • Jonathan Tickle, presentation 31st May, 1690.
  • George Snell, presentation September, 1733; refused to accept and never instituted.
  • John Harris, presentation 5th January, 1733.
  • Thomas Granger, presentation 24th April, 1736.
  • John Marshall, presentation 1st July, 1780.
  • John Rendle, presentation 31st July, 1790.
  • James Holman Mason, presentation 3rd July, 1815.
  • Philip Carlyon, presentation 1860.
  • John Williams, instituted 17th August, 1869.