Description

NEWTON ABBOT

SX8671 DEVON SQUARE 1012-1/9/43 Church of St Paul 16/07/49

GV II*

Church. 1859-1861. By JW Rowell. MATERIALS: squared Devon limestone rubble with freestone dressings, slate roof hipped and swept to the eaves of the 5-sided apse which has a stone stack to the south side. Cream freestone rustication to diagonal buttresses at quoins and centres of the transepts; cream freestone pointed relieving arches over lancet windows. PLAN: cruciform plan with canted chancel end, vestry with adjacent stack to south east and wooden bell turret; attached to north east, and extnding eastwards, is a rectangular-plan range with canted end. EXTERIOR: gabled nave and transepts have stone crosses to the parapets of the gables which have circular windows with alternate red and cream voussoirs encircling 3 quatrefoiled lights. Vestry has irrregular lancets and flying buttress feature. Aisles to rear (west) of transepts have paired lancets. Central buttresses are flanked by tall lancets. The 4-bay nave, articulated by offset buttresses has paired lancets under wide relieving arches. Fine north porch has alternate voussoirs of buff and grey to pointed moulded arch on 2 orders of colonettes with dog-tooth carving; inner chamfered arch, with decorative wrought-iron hinges to double plank doors and brick arch framing stencilled lettering which reads "This is the Gate of Heaven....". A fine square-plan bell tower at the crossing is slate-hung at the base; the painted timber belfry of 3 trefoil-headed open panels with quatrefoils to the bases of each side is roofed by a tall square spire offset at the eaves, with a cockerel weathervane. Large west window with alternating buff/grey voussoirs to wide segmental arch over triplet of windows with colonettes and similar chamfered trefoiled lancets flanking 2-light plate-tracery window. INTERIOR: timber-frame, cross-arched-braced roof on stone corbels, making a striking openwork quadripartite form to the crossing and the trusses of the five-sided apse fanning out and resting on marble corbels; pointed-arched rerarches with dog-tooth moulding, engaged colonettes and trefoil heads to C20 stained glass windows; triple polished colonettes with elaborately carved corbels above and below support a pointed chancel arch of alternate red and cream voussoirs; corbelled-out pulpit to the left has winding stone steps; fine polychromatic tile chancel floor; oak communion rail with brass scroll supports. Furniture includes original pews and a 1932 octagonal font with a granite plinth, red marble shaft and cream freestone base and bowl. World War I memorial glass. HISTORY: JW Rowell provided the designs for the development of the Courtenay estate between c1840 and 1860, of which Devon Square formed the centre. A finely-detailed and "roguish" design by a prominent local architect with a marked awareness of national trends and the work of architects such as Teulon and Carpenter. Sited prominently in the centre of Devon Square. (BoE: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Devon: London: 1989-: 587).



Listing NGR: SX8642671192

External Links

• Wikidata Q17535706

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair