Church of St Luke

Details

SY 08 NE NEWTON POPPLEFORD HIGH STREET, AND HARPFORD Newton Poppleford 5/69 Church of St Luke - 30.6.61

GV II*

Parish church, former Chapel of Ease. C15 tower, restored circa 1920; rest rebuilt 1875 by R Medley Fulford. Tower is local stone rubble with sandstone and Beerstone quoins, Beerstone detail; the 1875 work is also local stone rubble with Beerstone quoins and detail; red tile roof including bands of scallop-shaped tiles. The West tower is all that remains of the medieval church. In 1875 the nave and chancel were completely rebuilt under a continuous roof and a full length south aisle built under a parallel roof the same height. At this time the entrance was made through the old west tower. In the C20 the east end of the aisle was screened off to create a vestry but a small room of 1875 off the south side of the tower in the angle of the tower and aisle was probably built as the vestry. The low tower is 2 stages and unbuttressed. There is a chamfered plinth and 2 soffit-moulded dripcourses, the upper one below the much-restored embattled parapet and with worn carved gargoyle water spouts on the corners. A semi-hexagonal stair turret projects from the north side, its stepped stone roof probably part of the C20 renovation. It is surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane. It contains slit windows, 1 with a trefoil head. The belfry has square-headed 2-light windows with cinquefoil heads on each side. The west side includes the tall C15 doorway, a 2- centred arch with moulded surround and contains C19 plank door. Directly above is a restored 2-light window with Perpendicular tracery and a moulded hood. All around the tower the putlog holes are open and there is a presumably early C20 iron clockface on the north side. In the angle of the tower and south aisle is the small vestry containing shoulder- headed window and there is an C18 grave slab set into the wall. The C19 gable-ends of the south aisle and chancel have Beerstone coping and all 3 contain similar 2- light windows with Decorated-style tracery. The tracery is Beerstone and the arch head includes some brick and the relieving arch over has ashlar voussoirs of alternate purple sandstone and cream-coloured Beerstone. The west end of the aisle has a secondary doorway in a 2-centred arch with chamfered surround. The south side of the aisle contains 2 windows comprising twin trefoil-headed lancets. The east end double gable includes 2 horizontal bands of Beerstone ashlar interrupted by the windows described above. There is another band in each gable with lancet ventilators above. On the north side the chancel also includes 2 bands of Beerstone ashlar and has 2 more twin lancet windows. The north side of the nave breaks forward a little and from left to right has a similar triple lancet, then 2 single lancets and a twin lancet. Interior. The tower acts as a porch. The 2 centred arch on the left (south) is the C15 doorway to the stairs and opposite is a C19 copy to the vestry. The tall tower arch, also C15, has a Beerstone arch with double-chamfered arch ring. The nave has an open 4-bay roof of scissor-braced trusses with plain arch-bracing springing from soffit-moulded corbels. The south aisle has an identical 6-bay roof and chancel arch is made up of 2 more elaborate closely-set trusses with moulded and cusped archbracing and the space between boarded and following the shape of arch braces. The 4-bay arcade between nave and aisle comprises simple circular timber piers with moulded caps propping the valley between the roofs. Plain square-headed arch between chancel and aisle and a square brick pier between this arch and the arcade. Along the north side of the nave, where the wall was thrown out a short distance, there is a 3-bay arcade with octagonal timber piers with moulded bases and caps. The walls are plastered except in the chancel which is whitewashed brick. The chancel may have been naked brick originally. Plain tile floor and stone flags to the chancel. Nearly all the furnishings are of pine and of simple Gothic style. The exceptions are the C20 lectern, the chancel screen, south aisle altar, and C17 font. The chancel screen was made in 1903 for the Church of St. John, Swindon. It was erected here in 1960. Built of oak, and Gothic in style it has blind tracery and a moulded cornice enriched with 4-leaf decoration surmounted by crenellations. Each of the panels of the wainscotting frames a carved female figure. They are representations of motherhood and are described on a board on the north wall. The altar in the south aisle is of identical craftmanship. The font is late C17 and of Beerstone. The bowl is octoganal with a shallow basin and panelled without ornament and set on a square shaft, similarly panelled. Apart from the C15 tower and C17 font the church is entirely C19. The richness of the itroduced screen and altar seems incongrous with the deliberate simplicity of the 1875 scheme. The church was a Chapel of Ease until the mid C19. Source. Devon C19 Church Project.

Listing NGR: SY0856889710

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

352391

Legacy System:

LBS

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