Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 27/01/2012

SX 99 NW
3/64

UPTON PYNE
COWLEY
Chapel of St Antony

(Formerly listed as St Leonard's Chapel)

II

Chapel of Ease. 1867-8. Designed by Rhode Hawkins, financed by William Gibbs and
built on land donated by the daughters of Joseph Sheppard of Cowley House. Local
grey limestone with sandstone dressing. Slate roofs throughout. Nave, N porch,
chancel, SE vestry and a single-bay alcove to S side of nave, bellcote above
chancel arch. W front with 2, tall, trefoil-headed lancets under hood-moulds and
carved-head terminals. E window of 3 broad, trefoil-headed lights under a large
sextafoil; to the N (road) side, paired or single, trefoil-headed lancets; the S
side is similarly treated but includes its lean-to vestry and nave alcove with
paired and single lancets. There are no buttresses, and the side windows are
flush. Quirky external features are a single, short column rather like a chimney-
pot perched on the W gable, and the bellcote with steeply pitched stone pyramidal
cap carved on four stubby shafts with foliated capitals. This feature extends down
and into the church. The interior is well designed. There is an impressive roof
to nave and chancel with wall-plate, exposed rafters with studs and braced collars
set very close together with no bay divisions and clearly influenced by
Butterfield. The south-east corner of the nave is enlivened by a shallow recess
under a double-chamfered arch, and between this and the S respond of the chancel
arch is the stone pulpit bowed out into the nave and pierced with chunky,
cinquefoil-headed arches and entered from the vestry through a plain, pointed arch.
Largely contemporary fittings. The E window glass - also of the same date and part
of an overall glazing scheme which has been partly removed - is of high quality:
Christ in Majesty fills the sextafoil, 2 Evangelists stand in the side lights with
'Suffer Little Children' in the centre. There are good contemporary wrought-iron
gates to the porch. The roofs, together with the sequence of alcove, pulpit and
chancel arch, combine to form a design of considerable merit and individuality. Of
the small number of churches by Rhode Hawkins - some in London - only this and St
Michael's, Exeter, survive. The chapel stands in a commanding position high above
the main Barnstaple road.

Listing NGR: SX9056995687

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389839

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

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas