Brampford Speke : The Parish Church of St Peter

Image: © Lewis Clarke Taken: 21 Sep 2012

BRAMPFORD SPEKE SX 99 NW 3/20 The Parish Church of St Peter 30.6.61 - I Parish church. C15 west tower, the remainder, 1852-3 by Butcher, consisting of nave, north aisle, south porch, south transept, north-east organ chamber and vestry. Ashlar. Impressive west tower, slender proportions, 2 stages. Diagonal buttresses with 3 offsets plus C17 corner obelisks serving as pinnacles. North- west half-octagonal stair turret. Heavy base moulding which forms the hood mould of west door. Doorway with concave moulded jambs. 4-light Perpendicular west window. 2-light square-headed belfry openings, with shallow-chamfered lights. Small north window, hood formed by string course. The 1852 church is a fine, balanced composition. Exterior: all windows decorated. South-front: wide transept with 3-light south window above a lean-to lit by small punched sextafoil (marking an internal recess). 1 flush 2-light window to nave, 2 to chancel with hood-moulds. 3-light east window with large sextafoil in head. Strong double set- off buttresses; vestry east front with bold asymmetrical fenestration. North side with flush 2-light windows. Interior: mediaeval work: tower arch responds with wave moulding. C16 tower ceiling. Cusped, original tomb recess in south transept, with 4 heads facing downwards, of good quality. The font, possibly C15, recut, octagonal with traceried panels, wanting its plinth. 1852 rebuild: 3-bay north arcade, Decorated octagonal piers. Double-chamfered chancel arch with moulded capitals. Good roofs : arch-brace and collars to chancel and nave, scissor-braces to south transept. Minton tiling in chancel. Contemporary wooden commandment board: now in tower. Large, assertive, wooden pulpit. Monuments: of historical interest (see below) wall monument to Rev. G C Gorham, d. 1865, by Hale of London (south transept, east wall); mural monument to J Sheppard, 1865 by Stephens of Exeter (south transept, west wall). Glass: good heraldic glass in south transept, south window and north aisle. West and 2 north window, dated 1852. Historic interest: in 1847 the Bishop of Exeter, suspecting the Rev. G C Gorham's orthodoxy on baptismal regeneration, refused to institute him to Brampford Speke. Gorham appealed to the Privy Council and won. The Gorham Judgement forced many (including Wilberforce and Manning) to secede to Rome. Source: Devon C19 Churches Project.

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