{{Short description|Church in Devon, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Pilton Church (geograph 2384051).jpg|thumb|right|Church of St Mary the Virgin in [[Pilton, Devon|Pilton]] in [[Devon]]]] The '''Church of St Mary the Virgin''' in [[Pilton, Devon|Pilton]] is the 13th-century [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] [[parish church]] for the Pilton suburb of [[Barnstaple]] in [[Devon]]. It has been a [[Grade I listed]] building since 1951 and comes under the [[Diocese of Exeter]].<ref name=Historic>{{NHLE| num = 1385316| desc= Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilton | accessdate = 21 March 2018}}</ref>
==History and exterior== [[File:Almshouses St Marys Pilton.jpg|thumb|140px|left|The mock-Tudor almhouses leading to the church date from 1849]] [[File:SirJohnChichesterMonumentPiltonDevon.jpg|thumb|140px|right|Memorial to [[John Chichester (died 1569)|Sir John Chichester]] (d.1569) in the Raleigh Chapel]] The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a large parish church and formerly formed part of the [[Order of Saint Benedict|Benedictine]] [[Pilton Priory]] which was founded 925-940 as a cell of [[Malmesbury Abbey]]. It was closed during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1533 when it was acquired by the [[Arlington Court#Chichester family|Chichester Family]] of [[Manor of Raleigh, Pilton|Raleigh Manor]]. The church building we see today is partly 13th-century (it was dedicated in 1259) and partly 15th-century with some limited restoration and rebuilding during the 17th century. It is built with local purple, grey and brown slatestone with sandstone dressings; the roofs are of slate.<ref name=Historic/> The church is approached through the pretty imitation-Tudor [[almshouse]]s built in 1849.<ref name=Pevsner/>
The tower and South aisle date from the time of the Priory and on the church's North side the roof-line of the adjoining monastic buildings can still be seen, the cloister having run along the [[nave]] (hence the high sills of the North aisle windows) and traces of other taller buildings can be seen butting against the North tower. The church has a [[peal]] of eight bells some of which date from 1712.<ref name=Guide/> The tower is described as `rebuilt' according to an inscription on the porch by Robert Nutting in 1696 as a result of damage during the [[English Civil War|Civil War]]; the church has later rebuilding from 1845 to 1850.<ref name=Historic/><ref name= Pevsner>[[Nikolaus Pevsner]], ''The Buildings of England: North Devon'', Penguin Books (1952) pgs 135-136</ref>
==Interior of the church== [[File:Robert Chichester tomb St Marys Pilton.jpg|thumb|140px|left|The monument to [[Robert Chichester (died 1627)|Sir Robert Chichester]] has life size figures]] [[File:Rood Screen St Marys Pilton.jpg|thumb|140px|right|The elaborate painted [[rood screen]]]] [[File:ChristopherLethbridge1713PiltonChurchDevon.JPG|thumb|140px|left|Wall monument to Christopher Lethbridge (d.1713)]] [[File:Pulpit St Marys Pilton.jpeg|thumb|140px|right|The [[pulpit]] with its iron arm dates to c1550]] [[File:Font St Marys Pilton.jpg|thumb|140px|right|The [[baptismal font|font]] also dates to c1550]] The North aisle has plain glass in its windows but some fragments of Medieval coloured glass can be seen in the [[tracery]] at the top.<ref name=Guide>''A Brief Guide to the Ancient Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilton'' (N.D.) pg 1</ref> The [[nave]] and [[chancel]] were added to the North aisle section of the church in about 1320 to 1330, which is confirmed by an extract from the Register of [[Walter de Stapledon]], [[Bishop of Exeter]], who in 1311 made a contribution to [[Pilton Priory]] towards the cost of building the chancel.<ref name=Guide2/>
The [[parclose screen]] into the South East chapel (the Raleigh Chapel) is of three bays and is well carved with a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance detail and is inscribed with an R for Raleigh and is presumably post-1533. It may have been brought to the church from the private chapel at [[Manor of Raleigh, Pilton|Raleigh Manor]] when it was demolished in the 18th century.<ref>Guide, pg4</ref> The stone [[pulpit]] is [[Perpendicular Period]] of about 1550 and stands on a stem while its panels are decorated with blind arcading with a [[Tudor rose]] carved above the pedestal and retaining some traces of its original colour.<ref name=Guide3/> The pulpit has a [[Jacobean era|Jacobean]] [[sounding board]] and projecting from the side there is an unusual iron arm and hand which is probably [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] which once held an [[hourglass]] for timing the [[sermon]]s. In 1616 a payment was made for a replacement hourglass, and in 1646 a half-hour glass was purchased, which suggests that shorter sermons had become the fashion.<ref name=Guide3>Guide, pg3</ref>
The [[baptismal font]] has a plain octagonal Ham Hill bowl on a stem and a fine font cover which [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] believed was put together in the [[Elizabethan era]]. The font also dates to about 1550 and stands beneath a canopied [[Sounding board|tester]] made from pieces of Gothic and Renaissance carving including [[linenfold]], figure panels, applied barley-sugar ribs and Gothic fretwork.<ref name=Guide2>Guide, pg2</ref> The altar table with its pull-out leaves is late 16th-century and was restored in 1985.<ref name=Historic/><ref name=Pevsner/> The [[Altar rails|communion rail]] is [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]].<ref name=Guide3/>
The [[rood screen]] that separates the [[chancel]] and Raleigh Chapel from the [[nave]] and South aisle has lost its coving and cresting while the [[spandrel]]s have been filled with a variety of remnants from the missing pieces. The panels in the lower section once depicted the Apostles some of which have been restored to something like their original appearance. These images were added to the screen at the expense of Thomas Martyn who, when he died in 1510, left a legacy in his will for this purpose. Sometime later the images were obliterated with lime wash and red and green paint, while in Victorian times they were over-stained in brown. The expensive restoration process has been discontinued at present owing to cost but the aim is to restore further panels in the future.<ref>Guide, pg5</ref>
A plaque is located above a very narrow moulded doorway in the chancel which originally lead to an East end chapel with an adjoining cell which was inhabited by a recluse in 1329. The [[Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom|Royal Arms]] of 1707 are those of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]<ref name=Guide/> and are painted on boards and fixed to the West end of the North wall. A section of medieval wall painting is visible on the West wall.
==Monuments== The church possesses some very notable monuments<ref name=Pevsner/> including a standing sandstone wall monument to Sir [[John Chichester (died 1569)|John Chichester]] (d.1569) at the West end of the South East chapel with columns and [[strapwork]] cartouches. On the North wall of the [[chancel]] can be found a fine monument with original colour to Sir [[Robert Chichester (died 1627)|Robert Chichester]] (d.1627) with two rows of life-size kneeling figures, including children facing a double [[prie-dieu]]. The South aisle has a large wall monument to Christopher Lethbridge (d.1713) with elaborate achievements and [[putto]] heads.<ref name=Historic/><ref name=Pevsner/><ref>[http://www.churchmonumentssociety.org/Devon_3.html Church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilton - Church Monuments Society database]</ref>
==References== {{commons category|St Mary's church, Pilton, Devon}} {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/8991/ Church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilton - A Church Near You] - [[Church of England]] database *[http://vimp.thepiltonstory.org/document/A-Short-History-of-the-Church-of-St-Mary-the-Virgin-Pilton-Barnstaple/ef0d49d5bc458030eb21a5b4ef49ee7e A Short History of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilton, Barnstaple - The Pilton Story website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilton, Church of St Mary the Virgin}} [[Category:Barnstaple]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Barnstaple]] [[Category:Church of England church buildings in Devon]] [[Category:13th-century church buildings in England]] [[Category:15th-century church buildings in England]] [[Category:Grade I listed churches in Devon]]