Description

BARNSTAPLE

SS558332 PATERNOSTER ROW
684-1/8/209 (North side)
19/01/51 Church of St Peter including the
Doddridge Library
(Formerly Listed as:
CHURCH LANE
(West side)
Church of SS Peter and Paul)

GV II*

Parish church. Probably late C12 or early C13, enlarged 1318.
Spire added 1388-9; Doddridge Library 1667. Restored by
Gilbert Scott from 1866 onwards, and by JO Scott in the 1880s.
Tower, nave and chancel of random stone rubble; aisles,
chancel chapels and Doddridge Library of coursed rubble.
Limestone details. Slated roofs. Ribbed leaded spire.
PLAN: nave: N and S aisles; N transept with tower in place of
S transept; chancel; N and S chancel chapels; Doddridge
Library adjoining N chancel chapel with entrance from Church
Walk. Mostly Perpendicular windows restored in C19. EXTERIOR:
Tudor-arched windows in N aisle. C19 S door with pointed arch;
above it a blank panel in old Perpendicular surround with
cinquefoil arch. Smaller S chancel door of similar date; above
it an octagonal sundial with gilt lettering, including date
1732. Twisted broach spire with louvred belfry openings; these
have triangular pediments with ball finials, 2 of the
pediments dated 1636. Higher up on the E and W side are small
gabled canopies, that to E with 2 bells.
Doddridge Library has Tudor-arched doorway and 3-light
stone-mullioned window with cinquefoiled heads to the lights,
both probably C19. Upper storey has 2 windows, each of 3
lights with restored ovolo-moulded wood mullions. Between them
is a moulded plaque inscribed BIBLIOTHECA DODDRIDGIANA 1667.
The front is finished with a pair of moulded string courses
having ashlar masonry between them and above them a
crenellated parapet carved with quatrefoils and the town arms.
INTERIOR: has C14-style nave and chancel arcades designed by
Scott (carving by Harry Hems). Tower has two C14 pointed
arches with quarter-round mouldings. Waggon roofs throughout,
that to chancel boarded and with angels. Chancel and S chancel
chapel have medieval niches with trefoiled heads, presumably
piscinas originally; the second of these is unusual in having
small side-niches with pointed heads.
FITTINGS: C19 Gothic pulpit and font, the former with re-set
medieval Barnstaple tiles beneath it. Organ with Gothic case
and painted pipes, 1882 by JO Scott. Stained-glass tower
window by Clayton & Bell; W window by WF Dixon.
MONUMENTS: numerous C17 wall monuments, mostly to Barnstaple
merchants; many have busts or whole figures in high relief.
These include in N transept Thomas Horwood (d.1658),
founder of the almshouses in Church Lane (qv).
BELLS: 6 by John Briant, 1803; 2 Barwell trebles added in
1897. Restored 1980.
Doddridge Library has part of a double-rib ceiling upstairs.
(The Buildings of England: Cherry B: Devon (2nd edition):
London: 1989-: 150-1; The Ringing World: 1980-; Some notes on
the Parish Church of St Peter, Barnstaple).

Listing NGR: SS5583333223

Selected Sources

• The Ringing World, (1980)
• Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Devon, (1989), 150-151

Book cover links are generated automatically from the sources. They are not necessarily always correct, as book names at Amazon may not be quite the same as those used referenced in the text.

Source title links go to a search for the specified title at Amazon. Availability of the title is dependent on current publication status. You may also want to check AbeBooks, particularly for older titles.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper