Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and CoastsNorthcote, Rosalind
History
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts
Northcote, Rosalind
Devon (England)
The present church is mainly Perpendicular, though the Lady Chapel is
early Decorated, and there are portions of still earlier work. The tower
is central, square, and rather low. It is surmounted by four embattled
turrets, and battlements run round the roof of the church. The whole
building is of a soft rose-red colour, but the walls within were once
whitewashed, and are now of a slightly cooler tint. The clustered
pillars look as if, over a warm, soft grey, a faint, transparent tinge
of rose-colour had passed, leaving a very lovely effect; they are tall
and graceful, and delicate carving adorns the capitals. The nave is
lofty and unusually long. On the south side of the chancel are sedilia,
once elaborately decorated and glorious in vermilion and gold; a design
resembling a very large but intricate network in gold spreads over the
backs of the sedilia, and a little figure, with faint traces of colour
and gilding, stands at one end. On the north side of the chancel is the
effigy, lying at full length, of William Peryam; and close by is a
monument to John Tuckfield, engraved with an epitaph full of praise, in
which occur these lines, in peculiar lettering and spelling:
'Why do I live, in Life and Thrall,
Of Joy and all Bereaft,
Yor Winges were grown, To Heaven are flown,
'Cause I had none am Leaft.'
The Lady Chapel is beautifully decorated. At the south end of the choir
is a large tomb, on which lie, side by side, the effigies of a knight in
armour and a lady with a wonderful head-dress, large and square. The
figures are somewhat mutilated, but the little angels that supported her
head can just be distinguished. The tomb is supposed to be that of Sir
John Sully and his wife; he, having fought at Crecy and Poictiers, lived
to give evidence, at the age of 105, in the great Scrope and Grosvenor
controversy.
In the south porch is a bit of early English work, a piscina and
holy-water stoup side by side, under one arch, with a very slender
detached shaft between. The upper portion of the font is late Norman,
and is dark, shallow, and square. Behind the font a small door and tiny
staircase lead up to the parvise, where is stored a library that was
given for the priest's use. The books include a 'Vinegar' Bible, an
_Eikon Basilike_, and other treasures.
There is a curious account of a miracle that took place in this church
on August 1, 1315, while Bishop Stapeldon was celebrating Mass. Thomas
Orey, a fuller by trade, of Keynsham, became suddenly blind one day in
Easter week for no apparent reason. A vivid dream that, if he should
visit the Church of Holy Cross at Crediton, his sight would return,
induced him to journey there with his wife, and several witnesses,
afterwards called by the Bishop to give evidence, solemnly asserted that
when he arrived in the town he was totally blind. Two days he spent in
the church, and on the third, he being 'instant at prayer before the
altar of St Nicholas, suddenly recovered his sight.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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