Bell Tower - St Petrock - Exeter, Devon
Posted by: 
SMacB
N 50° 43.368 W 003° 31.937
30U E 462428 N 5619134
Bell tower of St Petrock's church, Exeter, with a ring of 6 bells.
Waymark Code: WM15V69
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/28/2022
Views: 0
Bell tower of St Petrock's church, Exeter, with a ring of 6 bells.
|
2 |
4 of 6 |
1878 |
Oak |
Harry Stokes |
6.A |
|
|
1 |
1,2,3,5,6 of 6 |
1878 |
Oak |
Harry Stokes |
6.A |
5.3 |
SOURCE - (Visit Link)
The early medieval church was built in the northwest corner of the cathedral precinct, which was used until the 17th-century as the town cemetery. Aligned west to east along the High Street, this seems to have been a straightforward building consisting of merely western tower, nave and chancel (these are the parts that are open today).
"The north wall fronting the High Street has a lofty wall with a three bay nave and west tower. The lower part of the nave has a north west entrance under an ogee hood. East of this are two blind semi-circular arches. The clerestory has three, three bay clerestory windows with renewed panel tracery in the side windows and flowing tracery in the central one. Above the clerestory is an embattled parapet. The tower is unbuttressed and has no windows in its square portion. The north wall bears a stone tablet recording the opening to view of the building during street-widening in 1905. The top of the tower has broaches which turn the structure octagonal: this has single, square-headed traceried windows and is topped by an embattled limestone parapet. Behind this is a small louvred turret of 1736.
The interior is now divided into two parts. The north part, what was probably the original church with tower, nave and chancel, remains in religious use with its original orientation and is divided off from the rest by a timber and glass screen. There is an arch (filled in by a glass screen of 1985 by the Harrison Sutton Partnership) between the nave and chancel with a moulded head and responds: large angel busts, holding shields, form the capitals. The details of this arch and its capitals are repeated in the piers to the arcades and to the pier supporting the south west angle of the tower: this unusual pier and arch design is derived from work at the cathedral but the angels would seem to be of the 1820s scheme.
Within the tower is a notable relief of the Last Judgment by John Weston of Exeter: a fragment of a larger (signed) monument formerly in the demolished church of St Kerrian, Exeter, it is one of a number of such panels carved by Weston.
The structural history of the church is both unusual and complex and led Nikolaus Pevsner to memorably describe it as `among the most confusing of any church in the whole of England.' Originally aligned east-west along the High Street it originally probably consisted of a tower, nave and chancel (the last now an interdenominational chapel). When enlargement was needed the cramped site meant that this was only possible on the south. Extensions took place from the early 15th century to the late 19th."
SOURCE - (Visit Link)