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Summary

Chapel of Ease to the church of St Michael, Brentor. 1856 by Richard Gosling of Torquay, financed largely by Mrs Isabella Holwell, Admiral Octavius Vernon and Mrs Danby. Roughly dressed stone with granite dressings and slate roof. The church cost £1,003 to build. Its unarchaeological gothic style is unusual in the Diocese of Exeter in the late 1850s.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1104798: CHRIST CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD WALL TO THE NORTH

Other References/Statuses

• Church of England HER: 5371
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX48SE/6
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CHAPEL OF EASE (XIX - 1854 AD to 1856 AD)

Full description

Chanter, J. F., 1927, Sixteenth Report on Church Plate, 110 (Article in Serial). SDV239594.

Brentor North. Chalice. Victorian style. Bowl conical, stem with poor knop. Marks: indistinct, probably Messrs. Barnard, and London hallmarks for 1842.
Patens: A. Forms cover to fit chalice. Inscription: "Christ Church North Brent Tor in the parish of Lamerton presented with a grateful mind by Isabella Holwell AD1843". Marks: as on chalice.
B. A waiter on three legs with irregular border. Inscription as on paten A. Marks: (i) W A, (ii) A U, (iii),(iv) a device.
Flagon. A domestic hot-water jug or tankard embossed with domed lid. Marks: W C (William Cripps) and London hallmarks for 1761.
Wafer box. Circular. Marks: Messrs. Wippell & Company.

Harcourt-Bath, W., 1930-1931, Christchurch, Brentor and the Vernon-Harcourts, 6 (Article in Serial). SDV265101.

Christchurch church and parsonage (not located) built in 1854 by Octavius Vernon-Harcourt.

Fulford Williams, H., 1963, Notes on the Parish of Brentor (Un-published). SDV265100.

Christ Church, North Brentor. Built 1855.

Burton, C. K. + Matthews, G. L., 1981, The Church of St. Michael, Brentor (Monograph). SDV262026.

Christ Church is in the perpendicular style with chancel, nave and embattled west tower with pinnacles containing on bell, and a clock made by J. Moore in 1863 and installed in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. During the years 1931-1936 the church was restored and refurnished in oak. The altar piece portraying the Virgin Mary and child Christ, other figures from the nativity are on side panels. Isabella Holwell presented a chalice and paten (London, 1842) and a silver flagon (WC London, 1761), which has been re-worked having originally been a tankard.

Department of Environment, 1985, Brentor, 23-24 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV265103.

Christ church and churchyard wall to the north. Chapel of ease to the Church of St. Michael, Brentor. Built 1856. Roughly dressed stone with granite dressings and slate roof. Small early English style. See List for full details.

Reid, R., 1996, The Architectural Work of George Wightwick, 127-129, 131 (Article in Serial). SDV336171.

Church was designed by George Wightwick in 1843. Original plans are slightly different than that built.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Depicted on the modern mapping.

English Heritage, 2015, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV357602.

SX 48 SE BRENTOR NORTH BRENTOR, 7/44 Christ Church and churchyard wall - to the north, GV II

Chapel of Ease to the church of St Michael, Brentor. 1856 by Richard Gosling of Torquay, financed largely by Mrs Isabella Holwell, Admiral Octavius Vernon and Mrs Danby. Roughly dressed stone with granite dressings and slate roof.
Small Early English style chapel with shallow chancel, nave, west tower, north west porch and south east vestry, 2-bay chancel has moulded coped gable with granite kneelers and triple lancet east window below hoodmould with moulded corbels. Clasping buttresses to east and west ends of nave, north and south sides have buttresses with quoins and set-offs between moulded granite single lancet windows. Lancets recessed, with splayed sills, moulded granite string below windows. South east 5-sided vestry has deep pyramidal roof. North west porch has moulded coped gable with kneelers and moulded arched granite outer door, similar inner door. 3-stage battlemented west tower has semi-circular south stair turret with small rectangular chamfered stair windows. Tower has clasping buttresses with set-offs, 2 moulded strings at base, granite band below parapet and octagonal corner pinnacles with finials. North, south and west sides have chamfered lancets with hoodmoulds at bellringers' stage, similar lancets with slate louvres at belfry stage. North side has similar lancet at first stage. Moulded arched west doorway with hoodmould. Interior Moulded granite chancel and tower arches without capitals. 5-bay moulded arch brace roof to nave with heavily moulded purlins and wall plate, principals spring from moulded granite corbels. Chancel roof collar rafter. Narrow chamfered stopped doorway into vestry. Nave windows have moulded granite inner arches, east window has engaged shafts with bell capitals. Set of contemporary glass by Alfred Beer of Exeter: pictorial in the east window and the window opposite the north door commemorating Isabella Holwell. Window above pulpit has text on scroll, other windows quarries with borders. Granite font probably of 1856 has bowl decorated with bold trefoils on stem of clustered shafts. Font cover and other fittings 1930s, when the plaster was removed from the walls. Stone rubble wall of 1856 surrounding churchyard to the south included for group value. Wall has granite capping and curves towards the north porch with granite gate piers with gabled caps.
The church cost £1,003 to build. Its unarchaeological gothic style is unusual in the Diocese of Exeter in the late 1850s.

Wootton, M., 2021, Archaeological monitoring and recording at Christ Church, North Brentor, Devon, Figure 2, Plates 1-2 (Report - Watching Brief). SDV365286.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in December 2021 at Christ Church, North Brentor. The site lies in an area of high archaeological potential within the graveyard. A watching brief was maintained during works associated with the installation of a new trench arch drainage system immediately to the south of the church. The work involved the excavation of a trench approximately 13 metres long by 0.8 metres wide and excavated to a maximum depth of 0.6 metres. The works exposed a simple deposit sequence of a natural subsoil sealed by topsoil. No deposits, artefacts or features or dating evidence indicative of archaeological activity was found.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV3067 - CHURCH PLATE (XVIII to XIX - 1701 AD to 1849 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV8778 - Archaeological monitoring and recording at Christ Church, Brentor (Ref: OA 1871)

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