A modest church of the interwar period, with an attractive interior of distinctly Italianate character.

The first church on the site was a small iron building erected in 1904. This became the church hall when the present church and presbytery were erected in the 1930s, the cost of £5,500 being mainly met by Mr & Mrs A.B. Dahl of Bovey Tracey. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Barrett of Plymouth in October 1935 and the bishop returned to consecrate the building in June 1936. The church, seating 200, was designed by S.B. Higgott LRIBA of Newton Abbot and his chief assistant H. Whiting; the contractors were William Sanders & Son of South Molton (Western Times, 5 June 1936). The older building was eventually replaced by the present modern hall which dates from the 1990s. The church was reordered in 2004.

Description

Of steel framed construction, with roughcast walls, windows and dressings of stone, steeply-pitched roof with coverings of Cornish slate. The plan comprises an aisleless nave, southeast chapel and apsidal sanctuary. The western bay is wider than the body of the church behind, giving the building more presence when seen from the street, and the eaves of the roof are here carried on substantial stone brackets. In the centre of the gabled west front is a broad, moulded semi-circular arch above the main door, flanked by narrower plainer round arches over side windows. Above the centre arch is a simple round opening and a niche in the head of the gable. The side walls have simple round-headed windows.

The interior is more elaborate than the exterior. The side walls are treated as blind arcades with round-headed arches carried on pilasters with triple-stepped capitals. The two eastern arches on the south side are open and lead to a small transeptal chapel. The nave roof is a plain plastered barrel vault. At the east end of the nave is a plain semi-circular arch leading to the apsidal sanctuary, the walls of which are lined with marble to head height. The nave has a parquet floor, on which are benches, presumably original. The windows are all clear glazed. The octagonal stone font, ambo/pulpit and the altar, brought forward in the reordering are probably also original fittings. The western bay of the nave has recently been partitioned-off to provide a small lobby.

Entry amended by AHP 30.09.2026

Heritage Details