A small interwar church in a free, vaguely Hispanic style, with a cross wing which may originally have served a domestic purpose.

The church was built between 1927 and 1929 at the expense of Mr and Mrs Manuel de las Casas, who emigrated to Canada and donated the building to the diocese soon after its completion. Many of the furnishings were presented by the Chichester family (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 12 August 1929).

Description

The external brick walls are faced with pebbledash on a red brick plinth; the roofs are covered with red pantiles. The plan comprises a single long range containing the church with a substantial two storey cross-wing which may originally have contained the priest’s accommodation before the building of the presbytery c1950, but is now linked to the church at ground floor level to provide a small side chapel. In the angle between the church and cross-range is a small entrance porch. Rising above roof level at the junction of the church range and cross wing is what appears to be a combined bellcote and chimneystack with its own pantiled pitched roof, an unusual combination. The church range has a single rose window in the east end wall, lancet windows with trefoiled heads in the long side wall and triple lancets with trefoiled heads in the ‘west’ gable wall. The gabled end wall of the two storey cross-range has two windows and a round-headed entrance doorway on the ground floor with three windows above; all these windows have straight heads under brick relieving arches.

The interior is a simple narrow space with plain plastered walls and an open timber roof with braced collars giving a wagon roof profile. There is no separate sanctuary. The windows are clear glazed except for the three lancets in the west wall which have red and yellow patterned glass. A wide rectangular opening in the ‘south’ side wall leads to a small side chapel, which has the character of a domestic space. Above this ground floor opening is another to the upper floor of the cross-wing, closed by shutters. The benches and other furnishings are of the simplest.

Entry amended by AHP 30.09.2026

Heritage Details