Spreyton

from

Some Old Devon Churches

By J. Stabb

London: Simpkin et al (1908-16)

Page 213

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.

SPREYTON. St. Michael. This interesting church [plate 213a] consists of chancel with priest's door, nave, north aisle, divided from nave by five arches supported on granite pillars with plain capitals, south porch, and west tower about 75 feet in height, containing five bells, dated 1650, 1678, 1626, 1837 and 1885. The church is Perpendicular in style, and was probably built about 1451. We get this date from a Latin inscription in Gothic letters on the ribs and beams of the chancel roof. In an article on the church in the Exeter Diocesan Gazette, the vicar, the Rev. H. P. Knapman, gives the following translation, which he kindly allows me to use:- Henry le Maygne, priest, vicar of this church, caused me to be built A.D. 1451. Robert of Rouen, of Becdenne, Prior of Cowick, and Richard Talbot Esq. Lord of Spreyton, gave of their goods to my building; pray for their souls. This Henry was a native of Normandy and wrote all this with his own hand.

Then follows, in hexameter verses, these lines:-

"Sweet friend of God (viz Holy Virgin) blooming as a lovely star,
Be mindful of me when the hour of death shall come
Father Jesus, nourish the people who pray from their heart;
Thou who art spotless renew the minds bound in the filth (of sin)."

"This house shall be called a house of prayer,
in which everyone who asks receives, who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks (the door) shall be opened."

"O Christ, bear witness that he writes not these words,
that his body be praised, but that his soul be remembered."
"Pray for us St Nicholas; St Edward the Martyr intercede for us,
Let sin ever be thought folly;
For one apple all mankind is ruined;
A virgin brought forth God, if anyone asks how
It is not mine to know, but I know God is able (to cause it)."

There are two very ancient tombstones in the church, one in the north aisle, and the other near the south porch entrance. In both cases the inscriptions are worn away, but, from the long cross cut on the top of each, they probably mark the graves of priests. On the wall of the north aisle there is carved stone bracket which mat have been used as the pedestal for a statue. At the east end of the nave is an old tombstone bearing date 1721 with the following inscription:-

"Like Brids of Prey
Death snaitchd a Way
This Harmless Dove
Whose soul so pure
Is now secure
In Heaven Above."

Another tombstone, that of Agnes Hare, is dated 1711.

The font in this church [plate 213b] in shape is octagonal, the top of the bowl is ornamented with a design of circles on each of the faces; each face slopes inwards until the base of the bowl is of nearly the same size as the shaft. The faces of the shaft are ornamented with carvings. It is the exception to find carvings on the shafts in Devonshire. These are of a particularly rude style of workmanship, looking more like a child's first attempt at drawing than anything else. Only seven sides of the shaft are carved, the eighth is against a pillar and left plain. It is almost impossible to say what these carvings are intended to represent; beginning at the left-hand back, there is (1st) what looks like a branching candlestick; (2nd) a figure with the arms akimbo, and a shield or masonic apron hanging in front [plate 213c]; (3rd) a female figure with the arms akimbo, and a crown on the head [plate 213d]; (4th) half a figure with the arms akimbo, on top of what may be intended to represent a wheel, or the sun; (5th) a cross with a head above - possibly this is intended for St. Andrew; (6th) a female figure with the arms akimbo; (7th) a male figure with the arms akimbo and the legs stretched out as if in the act of walking [plate 213e]. The curious position of the arms is the same in each figure. Granite is a difficult medium to work, and possibly there may have been no fine detail in the carving, but if there was, it has all disappeared. It is said this font is of Saxon date, but the rudeness of the carving is no proof of this; there are Saxon fonts with much finer carving, and the shape of the font is rather against its Saxon origin.

The church is approached by a fine avenue of lime trees [Tilia platyphyllos] planted by the Rev. R. Holland in 1802. There is an old oak tree [Quercus robur] in the churchyard said to be 40 feet in circumference, and just outside the lychgate is another venerable tree, in the last stage of decay, with one of the limbs propped up. An old villager, 76 years of age, said she remembered when seeing a child seeing the props erected [ca. 1845].

The registers dates from 1563; it is interesting in that they show that during the Commonwealth [1649-1659] no change apparently took place in the conduct of Divine Worship. The entries are all in the handwriting of Roger Speccot, who was probably appointed in 1654, and lived till 1692.