Thurlestone

from

Some Old Devon Churches

By J. Stabb

London: Simpkin et al (1908-16)

Page 233

Transcribed and edited by Dr Roger Peters

Full text available at

https://www.wissensdrang.com/dstabb.htm

Prepared by Michael Steer

Between 1908 and 1916, John Stabb, an ecclesiologist and photographer who lived in Torquay, published three volumes of Some Old Devon Churches and one of Devon Church Antiquities. A projected second volume of the latter, regarded by Stabb himself as a complement to the former, did not materialize because of his untimely death on August 2nd 1917, aged 52. Collectively, Stabb's four volumes present descriptions of 261 Devon churches and their antiquities.

THURLESTONE. All Saints. The church [plate 233] consists of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch, and west tower. It dates from the 13th century; the Lady Chapel and tower appear to have been added in 1407. Late in the 15th century the south aisle was added, and early in the 16th the porch. The screen, I am sorry to say, has disappeared, it was of 15th century work. A certain amount of the old carving remains, and a faculty has been secured for its re-erection, but this cannot be done for want of funds. It is earnestly to be hoped that sufficient money may soon be give to restore the Church a feature which it now much needs. The screen was probably taken down in 1685, when the north wall was rebuilt and the rood stairs "restored" away; the last mention of the screen is in 1625, when some repairs were effected upon the rood beam.

There is a holy water stoup and two piscinas, one dates from the 15th century, the other, in the chancel, is a facsimile of a 13th century one, broken in the 15th century to make room for the arcade. The rector has the broken fragments of the original and proposes, in order to preserve it, to re-erect it in the vestry when that is rebuilt. Possibly some future archæologist will come to the conclusion that the vestry must have been used as a chapel when he finds a piscina there! The Norman font is of red sandstone.

The earliest allusion to a rector is dated 1230.

The registers date from 1558. The village takes its name from a thirled or pierced rock on the coast, that forms a natural arch.