Lympstone Church History

The Church has stood proudly as a landmark at the centre of the village for many centuries. As a part-medieval building listed by English Heritage, it is a precious and important part of our heritage.

The existence of a Norman font suggests that there has been a church on the present site since at least the early 13th century. The west tower was dedicated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1409, but the rest was demolished and rebuilt in 1863/64 by the architect Edward Ashworth of Exeter. In 1883 the vestry was added and the chancel roof was raised. In 1928 the Lady Chapel was added and the chancel extended eastwards.

The Early Church

No records of the early church have been discovered. We know that rebuilding work was taking place in 1329 as the Rector applied for postponement of the consecration for the unfinished church. The next reference is an entry in Bishop Stafford’s register of the consecration of the “new” church in 1409.

The earliest description of the church is 1755 by John Lee, Lympstone’s Rector. The church at that time consisted of nave and north aisle divided by three pillars with ceiled wagon roofs. Rood stairs were evidence of a rood screen, which had been demolished. The 18th century installed box pews, galleries in the North aisle and in front of the West tower, and a three-decker pulpit by the south door. At some stage galleries were erected in the north aisle and west gallery in front of the tower. There were stained glass figures of St George and the Virgin Mary.

It was recorded in 1863, days before the old church was demolished, that there were traces of wall paintings (including St Christopher), coloured roof bosses, and that the piers were banded with diagonal lines of vermilion and emerald green.

The Tower

The tower was built in 1409 in Perpendicular style, of local sandstone quarried from fields adjacent to the Mill and on Sowden Farm. The tower shows signs of repair and replacement of stones from its restoration in 1862. Gargoyles face out from the string course below the crenelated parapet. A stair turret winds up to the belfry and the battlements. Tiny lancet and quatrefoil windows light the turret stairs, and a pair of unusual two-light belfry openings above each other.

The weather vane dates from 1776 and the clock from 1883.

During the Civil War, it is said that both Royalists and Roundheads used the tower to sight their guns.

The Victorian Church

The church nave was extended by some 25 feet to the east from 1828 to 1831 together with a shorter chancel and a new chancel arch.

By 1862 it is recorded that the church was in a state of disrepair and permission was given for the “taking down and re-building of the church with the exception of the tower”. The architect Edward Ashworth of Exeter was appointed and Messrs John Ware of Exeter were contracted for the rebuilding and enlargement of the church.

Ashworth’s church was built in Perpendicular style of Orcombe sandstone, on the same footprint as the demolished church, with the addition of a south aisle and the lengthening of the chancel. The pillars of the north aisle were reconstructed using the original stone and capitals. The new south aisle pillars were of the same pattern in Bath stone. The 1831 chancel arch was re-erected.

The rebuild cost was £2,659.3s.2d. - £600 more than the contract. The new church was consecrated on 30th June 1864 by the Bishop of Jamaica acting for Henry, the old and infirm Bishop of Exeter.

In 1883 a new vestry was built and the chancel roof was raised. The Devon architect was R.M. Fulford.

In 1928 the chancel was extended and a Lady Chapel was added east of the south aisle.

The Bells

It is recorded that there were bells in the tower belfry in1553. Today there are 6 bells, five dating from 1746 and cast by Thomas Wroth of Somerset. The fourth of these was recast in1887 by John Warner & Sons, Cripplegate, London. A treble bell was added in 1902 and the bells were rehung. In 1992 they were renovated by Robert Parker, bellhanger, of Taunton.

The Stained Glass Windows

The medieval glass was lost when the old church was demolished in 1863.

There is now a complete set of 19th and 20th century stained glass, all of it post 1864. Only the west window is clear. The dedications are to members of Lympstone families, many of them military men.

Glass companies represented include Clayton & Bell, Heaton, Butler & Bayne, J. Jennings of Clapham Road, Lambeth and W.G.Taylor of Berners Street, London.

For further details see The Stained Glass Windows of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lympstone written by Dr Brian Ridge, a Lympstone resident and church member, with photographs by Bill Boaden.

Fonts

Lympstone's early Norman font carved with a single band of rhythmic leaf decoration was turned out into the churchyard where it was used as a flower pot before being rescued and placed in the south porch.

Ashworth designed a new octagonal font in typical Perpendicular style. It was moved from its original position by the south door to the north aisle in the late 1980s.

Monuments

Existing monuments were rehung after the rebuilding with the Drake floor stones re-laid in the nave. The best monuments date from the 18th century and are sited in the tower. There is a particularly fine bust of Nicholas Lee 1759, Patron of the church and 3 times Mayor of Exeter. In the porch there are monuments to the charitable trusts set up in the 19th century to support the poor of the parish and the education of children. The Searle monument is a stone of flowing carved lettering, recently rescued by The Friends of Lympstone Church and now located in the Lady Chapel.

Précis made from “A short History and Architectural Guide” of Lympstone church written by Rosemary Smith (2009) with photographs by Harland Walshaw.