The Church of St Sabinus is the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

for in

Woolacombe Woolacombe is a seaside resort on the coast of North Devon, England, which lies at the mouth of a valley (or "combe") in the parish of Mortehoe. The beach is long, sandy, gently sloping and faces the Atlantic Ocean near the western limit of the ...

, Devon. It is the only church in the United Kingdom that is dedicated to St Sabinus of Canosa and has been a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

since 1985.Jean Dodds and Giles King-Smith, ''St Sabinus' Church, Woolacombe'' (Privately printed) (2013) The church comes under the

Diocese of Exeter The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Exeter Cathedral, Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan Bishop of Exeter. It is pa ...

Dedication

It is not known why the church is dedicated to St Sabinus; in the 13th-century there was a chapel in nearby

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

dedicated to him but this no longer exists. There is a popular local legend that the church is actually dedicated to a Celtic saint of the same name from Ireland who was shipwrecked on Woolacombe Sands, but there is no historical evidence to support that claim.Church of St Sabinus, Woolacombe
–

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

website Lady Rosalie Chichester of the local land-owning

Chichester Family Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

is believed to have been involved in the choice of a name and is known to have travelled extensively in Italy where she may have heard of St Sabinus; she may also have been aware of the

connection.

History

The original St Sabinus' Church was a small building known as the "Iron Church" erected about 200 yards up the hill out of Woolacombe. This catered for the increasing numbers of Victorian tourists who were regular visitors to the village and was extended in 1895 to include a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

. This church was funded by the

whose country seat was at

Arlington Court Arlington Court is a neoclassical style country house built 1820–23, situated in the parish of Arlington, next to the parish church of St James, miles NE of Barnstaple, north Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The park and ...

15 miles away. An appeal was launched to raise funds for a permanent church for the town. The Chichester Family donated the land, £200 and the necessary stone towards the building of the churchouse. The new church was designed by the architect W. D. Caröe and built between 1909 and 1912 and consecrated in 1912; it is sited on the main road into the village centre and is designed to resist winter storms from the Atlantic Ocean. The church became part of the Ilfracombe Team Ministry in 1977. The Electoral Roll is about 65 and the average attendance each Sunday is 60.

Design

The church is built of squared red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

rubble with stone dressings. It features

Delabole Delabole ( kw, Delyow Boll) is a large village and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, UK. It is situated approximately two miles (3 km) west of Camelford. The village of Delabole came into existence in the early 20th-century; it is ...

slate roofs with gable ends. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

have narrow aisles which are flat-roofed to the north. The asymmetrical placed transeptal tower stump is covered with a saddleback roof. The north aisle was completed in 1965 due to a lack of funds previously. The aisles have low three-light windows. The chancel is slightly narrower than the nave and has three-bay arcades and a waggon roof with carved corbel bosses at the east end. There is an elaborate wooden chancel screen with grille; the octagonal

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

with fleuron decoration dates to 1916. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

is slightly earlier, dating to 1914. The

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

has quatrefoil windows to the chancel of two seats and the

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

to left has a scalloped base. Among the stained glass windows are those by the studio of

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichg ...

and

Archibald Keightley Nicholson Archibald Keightley Nicholson (1871–1937) was an English 20th century ecclesiastical stained-glass maker. His father was Charles Nicholson and his two brothers, Charles and Sydney, were a church architect and church musician, respectively. Du ...

which variously depict the legend of St Sabinus being shipwrecked at Woolacombe Sands and which was installed in 1969 in memory of

Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

Ernest John "Jack" Watts (1925–1946); the window dedicated to the Colville Family was installed in 1969; the War Memorial Window installed in 1919 and produced by the Kempe studio; the Nutman Window is the work of Archibald Nicholson and is dedicated to William John Nutman, captain of the SS ''Aidar'', who received the Albert Medal First Class from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

for his great gallantry in saving the life of an injured crewman during a storm in the Mediterranean Sea on the night of 19 January 1896.Dodds and King-Smith, pg 18

Gallery

File:St Sabinus Woolacombe nave view.jpg, View down the nave File:Nutman window Woolacombe.jpg, Window dedicated to Captain William John Nutman, AM File:Nutman window Woolacombe detail.jpg, Detail of the Nutman Window showing SS ''Aidar'' File:St Sabinus Woolacombe pulpit.jpg, The

dates to 1914 File:St Sabinus Woolacombe screen.jpg, The distinctive glass screen at the rear of the church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Church of St Sabinus, Woolacombe

1912 establishments in England

Buildings by W. D. Caröe 20th-century Church of England church buildings