Description

BROADHEMBURY BROADHEMBURY
SY 10 SW

5/49 Church of St Andrew

22.2.55

GV I

Parish church. Parts of the nave probably C14 or earlier, C15 south aisle and west
tower, early C16 porch. Long sequence of restoration work including a major
programme begun in 1845 which involved the rebuilding of the chancel, the addition of
the vestry, the rebuilding of the west gallery as a private pew and general
refurbishment. Mostly flint with Beerstone dressings, some volcanic windows, C19
dressings Bathstone, lead roofs.
Plan: Nave, chancel, west tower, 5-bay south arcade (one bay to the chancel), north
porch, north-east vestry. The church was consecrated in 1259 but the earliest
visible fabric is the Decorated nave windows. The remainder of the building is
Perpendicular with a very grand west tower and pulpit window and a fine early C16
porch.
Exterior: C19 chancel with diagonal buttresses with set-offs; 5-light C19 Bathstone
east window, very large with a hoodmould with carved label stops. 1845 lean-to
vestry abuts the north wall of the chancel with a moulded east doorframe and a
square-headed 2-light north window with cusped ogee arched lights. Probably C14
nave; 2 small 2-light Decorated traceried windows flank the porch. The easternmost
window in the nave, lighting the pulpit, is unusually elaborate Perpendicular, 3-
light with carved demi-figures projecting below the capitals of the mullions - the
internal face has 3 projecting demi-angels with scrolls. A shallow rectangular rood
loft stair turret projects at the east end of the nave. The south aisle has a 4-
light Perpendicular traceried east window; buttresses on the south side: the 4
western buttresses match one another with set-offs, the easternmost buttress is
plainer. Three 3-light Perpendicular traceried windows; 2-centred shallow-moulded
door with carved spandrels into the south chancel chapel. At the west end of the
aisle there is a gallery containing a family pew above the substantial heating
system; there is a shallow C19 projecting stack on the south side with a stone shaft
with set-offs and a crenellated cap; a C19 2-light square-headed C19 south window
with cusped lights and a west doorframe with a Tudor arch, a hoodmould and a 1-light
cusped window above. Exceptionally fine, tall, 3-stage, battlemented west tower with
set-back buttresses with set-offs, string courses, gargoyles below the battlements
and octagonal corner pinnacles with crocketted finials. A battlemented polygonal
stair turret at the north-east corner rises above the tower with a tall conical lead
spire. The turret has an external door with a chamfered doorframe and a variety of
windows: trefoil-headed, quatrefoil etc. and a statue niche with a canopy. The
west face of the tower has a shallow-moulded Tudor arched west doorway with a
hoodmould; a 4-light C19 traceried west window with a king mullion and a 3-light
traceried, transomed belfry opening. The south face has a 2-light traceried,
transomed belfry window. The east face has a similar 3-light belfry opening and an
C18 lead downpipe with a rainwater head. The north face has a 2-light transomed,
traceried belfry window and a 2-light uncusped window below, directly above the clock
which has a stone frame with carved spandrels. Unusually elaborate early C16 north
porch with set-back buttresses and a coped parapet rising as a gable on the north
side. Moulded 4-centred outer doorway below 3 decayed statue niches with elaborate
crocketted canopies and angel corbels holding shields and scrolls. The outer doorway
has a pair of fine late C17/early C18 gates, balustraded above fielded panels with
ramped top rails crowned with wrought iron cresting. The porch has a shallow vaulted
stone roof with a central boss, the ribs springing from corner shafts with blind
tracery and bosses at the intersections. The inner doorway has a Tudor arched frame
with an order of vine-carving and well-carved spandrels; statue niche over the door
with a square-headed frame. Holy water stoup in the porch and porch benches with
probably C17 moulded timber tops.
Interior: Plastered walls; C19 moulded chancel arch, the inner order dying into the
responds; elaborate Perpendicular tower arch with a panelled soffit, the responds
also panelled with 3 shafts with moulded caps. 4-bay south arcade with one bay to
the chancel, the piers with corner shafts and carved foliage capitals, the western
respond a C19 rebuilding, the arch into the chancel with additional mouldings because
of the thickness of the chancel wall. A south-west arch, framing the family pew in
the gallery, has a moulded inner order dying into the responds. Open wagon roofs to
nave and aisle, the aisle roof Perpendicular but with some renewal with shallow
carved bosses and a vine-carved wall-plate. The east end bosses are more substantial
and retain traces of paint. The nave roof is also renewed Perpendicular with bosses
and the remains of a pretty C19 painted scheme; at the east end a ceilure with a
probably C20 paint scheme. C19 open wagon to the chancel with a crested vine-carved
wall - plate. The bottom stage of the tower has C15 or early C16 cross-joisted
intersecting moulded ceiling beams.
The chancel retains its C19 fittings; good tiling; communion rail; C19 poppyhead
choir stalls and a low timber chancel screen with a frieze of open tracery, this
screen has a C19 panelled dado and an unusual, moveable balustraded communion rail,
probably C17. The nave has a C19 timber drum pulpit on a wineglass stem and an
unsusually ornate Perpendicular font with an octagonal bowl carved with panels of
blind tracery filled with carved shields and carved figures. The bottom of the bowl
is carved with tracery and set on a central, diagonally-placed stem carved with
shields with 4 square-set corner shafts. Set of C19 pews with blind traceried ends
and doors. The gallery supporting the family pew at the west end of the south aisle
is elaborately decorated: at the bottom ornamental iron grilles ventilate the heating
system, orders of stone carving and blind stone quatrefoils above, and a gallery
frontal of open tracery at the top with poppy-head finials matching the chancel
screen. Repainted Royal Arms over the door, early C19 nowy-head benefaction boards
in tower.
Monuments In the chancel a C17 wall monument with some ancient colour; a kneeling
knight flanked by paired Corinthian columns. Cresswell considered that this probably
represents Sir Thomas Drewe of Grange (qv). A number of white marble wall tablets of
the C18 and C19 commemorate members of the Drewe family. On the south side of the
chancel, a tablet erected in 1898, signed Watts of Colchester, commemorates Augustus
Montague Toplady, Vicar 1768-1778, composer of 'Rock of Ages'. The nave has a
repousse copper plaque commemorating John Barton, died 1898, and both aisle and nave
have a number of white marble C18 and C19 wall tablets. The south chancel chapel has
a late C17 wall monument commemorating Francis Drewe, died 1675 with original
marbling and gilding, Corinthian columns and a broken pediment.
Stained Glass An extremely interesting C19 sequence, especially a series of 4 by the
Hardman Company on the south side, i.e. the easternmost and the next 3 windows.
These are all of different dates but designed as a coherent set with similar scaling
and colours. The westernmost window in the aisle is signed Heaton Butler and Bayne
and dated 1901. The east windows in the chancel and aisle are by the same maker,
probably Wailes, and circa 1850. On the north side the pulpit window is by Hardman,
and the other stained glass window, with a memorial date of 1871, probably Powell.
Devon Nineteenth Century Churches Project.
Cresswell, B, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, 7, Pt. 1 (1912-13) p. 116; 10,
Pt. 1 (1918-19), pp. 172-173.

Listing NGR: ST1017804709

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17524600

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

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  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)