
Tower of Sidmouth Parish Church - St Giles and St Nicholas - Sidmouth, Devon
Posted by:
SMacB
N 50° 40.757 W 003° 14.378
30U E 483069 N 5614188
A blue plaque at St Giles and St Nicholas' church with a short history of the church tower.
Waymark Code: WM16BYV
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/26/2022
Views: 0
A blue plaque at St Giles and St Nicholas' church with a short history of the church tower.
"The late medieval W tower is of three stages and has set-back buttresses. A small polygonal stair-turret rises to the battlements. The ground floor of the tower has a W doorway under a square frame and above this is a large five-light W window with tracery that is probably by White: it has side lights with panelled Perpendicular tracery and a large quatrefoil in the head. In the second stage the W face has a small two-light window while the belfry stage has two-light windows with pierced stonework infilling.
This is the medieval parish church of Sidmouth whose popularity as a resort developed in the late 18th century. Continued expansion and increased prosperity led to a rebuilding of the church except for the medieval tower. The architect selected was William White (1825-1900), a leading architect of the Victorian Gothic Revival.
[The church] is of very considerable interest in retaining its late medieval tower and otherwise being a large and significant church by William White, one of the leading church architects in Victorian England."
SOURCE - (
visit link)
The plaque reads -
TOWER OF SIDMOUTH
PARISH CHURCH
A church has stood here since the 12th century. The current tower dates from the mid-15th century, is 75ft (23m) high and has 105 steps. It contains a mediaeval tolling bell and a ring of ten bells. Above the west door is the stained-glass window given by Queen Victoria in memory of her father, the Duke of Kent, who died in Sidmouth in 1820 when Victoria was an infant. The window depicts Jesus with eight Christian virtues and the life of St Nicholas across the bottom. HM Queen Elizabeth II contributed towards the window’s restoration in 2018. The wind-vane represents the Mary Rose ship and was given in memory of Mrs Margaret Rose.