Weight: 560 lbs Diameter: 29.5" Bell 1 of 3
Founded by John II [C] Pennington 1727
Dove Bell ID: 225 Tower ID: 17237 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Ashbury: St Mary the Virgin
Overview
Grid reference: SX 507 979
The simplicity of the church is typical of many to be found in this part of Devon; it seems never to have served a population of any considerable size, and there has never been any cause to extend it or rebuild it on a larger scale. In its present form, therefore, the building represents a nineteenth-century reconstruction of a late-mediaeval church following its original plan and also, it seems, the original design with only minor variations.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower, aisleless nave with south porch, chancel.
Footprint of Church buildings: 89 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was rebuilt on the old foundations in 1871; the architect is not known, but the work was paid for by The Venerable Henry Woollcombe, Archdeacon of Barnstaple, whose family had lived in Ashbury House (later known as Wadlands) since 1685. Much of the material on the former church seems to have been re-used.
Exterior Description
The west tower is wider north-south than east-west and is divided externally into two stages by a stringcourse; at each angle are diagonal buttresses of slender proportions rising without off-sets to the stringcourse. In the west face is a doorway with continuous mouldings on jambs and arch, sheltered by a hood-mould with returned stops. Close above this is a window of two uncupsed lights with a square hood-mould with a small gablet in the centre. On the south face, almost against the stringcourse, is a narrow rectangular slit to the silence chamber which occupies this position internally, ignoring the external arrangement delineated by the stringcourse. The north face is blind up to this point. Above the stringcourse the buttresses have a single crude eff-set before dying into the walls just below the parapet. The belfry openings are paired rectangular slits and the parapet has two merlons to each face with coarse tapering pinnacles at the corners.
The south wall of the nave is almost symetrically arranged with the porch placed near the centre; this has a moulded arch springing from plain responds, and seems to be all nineteenth-century. On each side are two-light windows with cinquefoiled main lights and a quatrefoil in plate tracery above. The buttresses at the west angle seems mostly old, that at the eastern corner is entirely nineteenth-century. The north nave wall has two windows to those in the south wall.
The chancel, slightly lower than the nave, but with a roof of the same pitch, has a small three-light east window with Geometric tracery in the form of a quatrefoil and two trefoils, which is evidently nineteenth century, but the windows in the north and south walls seem for the most part to be original. The south wall has two windows, first (from the west) a single light with cinquefoiled head and hoodmould set askew, and then a much smaller trefoil-headed light towards the east corner. Between the two is a blocked round-headed doorway of indeterminate date. The north wall has a window similar to the larger south window (and obviously copied from it, since this one is entirely renewed), but in place of a window further west there is a projection roofed with stone courses like a wide buttress.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1866
The east window commemorates a death in 1866 and depicts the Transfiguration.
Stained Glass
1861
South chancel I : angel with lilies, in memory of Henry Woollcombe
Stained Glass
c.1880
South chancel II : Mary sitting at the feet of Christ
Stained Glass
c.1918
North chancel I : The Virgin and Child
Interior
Interior Description
The interior of the church is plastered and white-washed, only the inner face of the tower being left with the stonework exposed. The tower arch is quite tall and round-headed, again of indeterminate date, although the crudely shaped capitals to the responds suggest that an early date is quite probable. The rere-arch of the west doorway is also round. The floor is tiled and the windows are set within plastered reveals, edged with strips of unplastered stonework. The chancel arch is entirely nineteenth-century (enlarging it may well have been one of the reasons for the Archdeacon's rebuilding of the church), and has two chamfered orders of which the outer comes to the floor and the inner is supoorted on foliated corbels. The chancel windows have unplastered reveals of ashlar masonry, and the projection seen outside on the north wall in fact is merely an arched recess of no practical function; the floor is paved with red tiles and the furnishings are for the most part late-nineteenth-century oak of reasonable quality. The roofs of both chancel and nave are of open timber construction, entirely nineteenth-century, with arch-braces at each bay.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1881
The altar is of oak.
Reredos
1891
Oak and has three sections representing Scenes from the Life of Christ, the Crucifixion in the centre. The surrounds have busy crocketting and cresting, with iron riddels for curtains projecting each side.
Pulpit
1901
Octagonal , on a stone base, with linenfold panels and a small figure of St. Mary at the front. Of oak.
Lectern
1901
The lectern, of oak, in the usual form of an eagle.
Font (object)
1901
Bells
Diameter: 27.13" Bell 2 of 3
Founded by Exeter foundry
Dove Bell ID: 47887 Tower ID: 17237 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Diameter: 29" Bell 3 of 3
Founded by Exeter foundry
Dove Bell ID: 47888 Tower ID: 17237 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SX 507 979
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Submit a change
If you notice something incorrect or missing, please explain it in the form below and submit it to our team for review.