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Summary

Parish Church of St. Swithun, Woodbury, rebuilt in 1409 and restored by the vicar in 1862 where the medieval rood screen was removed and the building was repainted.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Church of England HER: 4866
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY08NW/11
• Old Listed Building Ref (I): 88588

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PARISH CHURCH (Early Medieval to XXI - 1066 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

NMR, SY08NW28 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV107208.

Unknown, Untitled Source (Pamphlet). SDV107190.

Church guide gives details of construction, bible, woodwork, stained glass (brought from York Minster and installed in 1963), monuments and bells.

Fulford, J. L., 1893, Untitled Source (Monograph). SDV107209.

Bushfield, T. N., 1894, The Church of All Saints, East Budleigh, 290 (Article in Serial). SDV107187.

Parish church St. Swithin. Rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1409, restored by vicar there (1846-1898) who removed the medieval rood screen and repainted it in 1862. Parts remain of the ancient perpendicular screen. Woodbury accounts for 1556-1557 show an item paid for "making of the ymage of seint swythune". Most probably carved in wood and supplied to replace one destroyed in the previous reign (Edward VI). Accounts also include payment to the clockmaker of Budleigh for his fee in 1563-1564.

Brushfield, T. N., 1894, The Churchwardens' Accounts of East Budleigh, 368 (Article in Serial). SDV107199.

Reichel, O. J., 1898, The Domesday Churches of Devon, 289-290, 310 (Article in Serial). SDV863.

A parochial chapel in the Royal estate of Woodbury was founded in 1057. Woodbury Church also possessed land before the Norman Conquest. Cited as one of the churches in Devon in existence at the time of Domesday.

Bligh Bond, F., 1903, Devonshire Screens and Rood Lofts. Part II, 495 (Article in Serial). SDV6113.

Thompson, A. H., 1913, Church Architecture in Devon, 475-476, 489 (Article in Serial). SDV15387.

Reichel, O. J., 1939, The Church and the Hundreds in Devon, 339-340 (Article in Serial). SDV15424.

Reichel discusses the early church in relation to the organisation of the Hundreds in Devon. Chancel, nave, chantry and south porch were begun c 1220 in Early English style. Tower added 1409. North aisle 16th century.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 518 (Monograph). SDV17562.

1983, Untitled Source (Photograph). SDV107203.

Shaw, G. G., 1986, the Oxford Movement and Ritualist Reform in the Devon Parish of Woodbury, 147-150, Fig. 1 (Article in Serial). SDV106403.

Prior to 1849 restoration the walls were of white plaster, the nave roof was a typical Devon wagon roof was replaced by 'an exact copy'. In 1893 the nave roof was replaced by a hammer-beamed trussed roof with purlins and exposed timbers, and wall plaster removed. The 1660 gallery (panelled in 1740) and the box pews were removed at this time - the pews replaced by 312 chairs. In 1847 the Jacobean altar rails were moved to the s wall of the chantry, and the Tympanum (present since at least the reformation) was removed. Medieval piscina and sedilia were exposed during renovations.

Department of Environment, 1996, Woodbury, 48-49 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV121858.

Parish Church of St. Swithun. South transept and possibly part of south wall of nave and chancel 13th century; largely rebuilt and the tower erected 1407-9; north aisle built by the Haydon family, early 16th century. Extensively restored by the incumbant, Rev. J. L. Fulford, especially 1849-52; roofs replaced and another general restoration 1893. Coursed dressed sandstone; dry slate roofs. West tower, nave, north aisle, south transept, ne vestry and organ chamber (originally the Haydon Chantry Chapel), chancel, south porch.

Fisher, J., 1999, East Devon Conservation Area Appraisals: Woodbury, 3-4, 7-8 (Report - non-specific). SDV347110.

Photograph shows the lofty church tower and lytchgate, the former built mainly of volcanic trap, a local stone no longer quarried. Rebuilt in 1409, with the aisles completed circa 1530. There are wagon roofs in the chancel and south porch. A long serving vicar from 1846 to 1898, the Reverand J. Loveband Fulford, started to extensively restore the church from about 1852, affecting the medieval screen, choir stalls and stained glass. He was later assisted by his architect son, R. M. Fulford, in the early 1890s, when the box pews and west gallery were removed and the east window replaces with glass from the Kempe studios. Other details: Maps, photograph.

Collings, A. G., 2000, Archaeological Assessment of Proposed Development Site at Fairfield House, Oakhayes Road, Woodbury, 2-3 (Report - Assessment). SDV336289.

A guild statute of the mid 11th century indicates the importance of Woodbury in relation to Exeter Cathedral. By 1086 the church and lands were in the possession of the church of Mont St Michel when it was called the Church of Cudeb. In 1205 it passed to Exeter Cathedral. In 1893 it was found that about two thirds of the nave area had been laid with cobbles on the sand rock which still exist c0.3m below the nave floor.

Manning, P. T., 2003, Archaeological Assessment and Recording at Phoenix Motors, Woodbury, 3 (Report - Assessment). SDV107210.

Other details: Fig 2.

Selley, G., 2003, Untitled Source, 5 (Un-published). SDV112905.

In Domesday the Manor Church of Woodbury was held by the Church of Mont-St-Michel.

Wakeham, C. + Firth, E., 2011, St Swithun's Church, Woodbury, East Devon. Results of an Archaeological Building Survey and Watching Brief (Report - non-specific). SDV348595.

Archaeological recording in 2009-2010 during installation of two toilets in the tower of the church, and excavations for associated
services within the graveyard, concluded that the tower (erected in 1409) was constructed within an area which had been used for many years for burials. A quantity of medieval window tracery and other architectural fragments indicated that a significant amount of masonry from the west end of the church was removed when the tower was added. A quantity of medieval inlaid floor tiles was recovered, some of which pre-dated the construction of the tower and must have originated from the earlier parts of the church. The floor of the tower had also originally been tiled. Most of the tiles are of previously-unpublished types. Evidence for a least two further, pre-Victorian, stone floors within the tower was also identified.

Pearce, S. M., 2012, Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites in South-western Britain: their dates, characters and significance, 81 - 108 (Article in Serial). SDV361501.

Wakeham, C. + Firth, E., 2012, St Swithun's Church, Woodbury, East Devon. Results of an Archaeological Building Survey and Watching Brief (Report - non-specific). SDV349045.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5692 - Building Survey and Watching Brief at St. Swithun's Church

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