Description

SS20SE BRIDGERULE CP CHURCHTOWN

12/21 Church of St Bridget 14.2.58

GV I

Anglican parish church. C13 chancel and north transept, nave enlarged mid C14, south transept enlarged as south aisle with porch 1400-50, tower c1450, church restored 1723 when west gable end of south aisle rebuilt, vestry added 1878 when slate floors laid and minor restoration undertaken, interior refitted out 1889-1913, chancel reroofed 1897, north transept roof 1905, roof reslated 1985-6. Architect for 1878 work J.P.St Aubyn, clerk of works Mr Crutchett. Random rubble local stone, rendered south face of chancel, granite dressings, ashlar tower and facade of porch, hollow chamfer ashlar wallplate to south aisle and porch, coped verges, diamond pattern slates to south aisle, decorative ridge tiles to porch and vestry, decorative slate bargeboards to gable end of vestry. Chancel, vestry, north transept known as the Lady chapel, 5-bay south aisle, south porch, west tower. Crenellated 3-stage ubuttressed tower, crocketed finials, tiny stairlight openings on all stages in north-west corner, 2-light louvred bell-openings, unidentified column of incised markings about 5 courses high in south-east corner of bell-stage, not thought to be mason's marks, square-headed opening on south front with hoodmould, 3- light west window, string course continued as hoodmould over 4-centred arch-head west door, late C19/early C20 plank door, moulded plinth. South aisle unlit west gable end; slate tablet attached in south-west corner to John Jewel the Younger died 6 Jan. 1778 with an angel's face in relief; four 3-light cinquefoil-headed hollow chamfered granite windows with hooodmoulds, single storey porch between first and second bays west, round headed opening with decorative spandrels to porch, square hoodmould with stops which also incorporates a niche surmounted by the effigy of man with book, probably St Michael, the niche is filled with a sundial of c1800, moulded plinth; chequerboard floor of slates laid on edge, decorative ribbed barrel vault with bosses, pointed arched opening to south door, late C19/early C20 door. The porch contains two C18/C19 slate tablets with the Ten Commandments removed from the high altar late C19; stocks and Romanesque pillar piscina used as holy water stoup; on the west front of porch slate slab with incised angel's face inscriped to Joan Curry died 22 June 1769, aged 99 years and 9 months - the tablet has split. Late C19 3-light east window to south aisle, 3- light East window to chancel, C19 3-light window to vestry, square-headed 3-light window under hoodmould to gable end of north transept, buttressed C20 lean-to in angle. North front of nave blocked pointed arch doorway, C14 trefoil-headed opening to west (the Mary window). There are a number of interesting C18 and C19 slate head stones unattached and leaning against this wall. Interior: rendered, exposed jambs to East window, exposed masonary in tower and granite south arcade. C19 chancel roof open ribbed barrel vault, painted decoration, with bosses and angels to wallplate; nave open barrel vault with unmoulded ribs and wallplate; south aisle open barrel vault with fine decorative ribs and wallplate; scissor-brace roof to vestry. No chancel arch, tower arch very high, almost semicircular, enriched capitals with cable moulding best preserved on interior of tower, long stops, hollow chamfer pointed arch to tower stair; unmoulded semicircular arch to north transcept with slate projections. Five bay Perpendicular arcade with depressed pointed arches and octagonal capitals. Semicircular-headed doorway in east wall of north transcept formerly to roodstair, now to vestry; doorway to roodloft extant but now partly blocked by cresting of C19 roodscreen. Small pointed arch-head piscina in south wall of chancel originally forming part of jamb to unidentified opening in chancel wall. Square-headed aumbry opening in north wall. Floors of squared slate set chequerboard pattern in nave and aisles, encaustic tiles in chancel by Goodwin and Co. Norman font, bowl and stem of one piece in an egg-cup shape. Two pieces of medieval stained glass in south-east window of aisle, east window of aisle dated 1857 and resited from East window when reredos added. Fittings dating from 1889-1907 including roodscreen, baptistry screen, organ case, reredos, lamps and carved wooden surround to the Mary window in the north wall of the nave. Monuments to members of the Kingdon family, who were the incumbents here during the C18-early C20, including one by Emes and Stephens of Exeter to John Kingdon, died 1808, rector here for 40 years. Damaged slate floor slab behind the organ to Nicholas Sharsell, vicar, died 1698, and fine early- mid C17 slate tablet without the owner's name but inscribed with a poem explaining that she was a young bride of a few months; probably a member of the Gilbert family of Tackbeare Manor, now Tackbeare Farmhouse (q.v.). The church contains an extensive collection of Tractarian fittings, mass produced and though not of a high standard artistically very interesting as a survival of C19 taste. In the vestry there is a list of 'wants' complied by the rector in 1883 with their cost and date of acquisition. (Cherry and Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Devon, forthcoming; Kelly's Directory, 1910; Photograph in NMR)

Listing NGR: SS2812003168

External Links

• Wikidata Q17527433

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Recommended Books

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)