St Mary's Church, Mortehoe, is a Grade I listed

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 Britai ...

church in

Mortehoe Mortehoe is a village and former manor on the north coast of Devon, England. It lies 10 miles north-west of Barnstaple, near Woolacombe and Lee Bay, and is sited in a valley within the hilly sand-dune-like land behind Morte Point, almost di ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England, whose origins date back to the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

. It retains many original medieval features, including a notable tomb containing the remains of Sir William de Tracy.

History

The oldest parts of the Anglican church of St Mary date back to

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

times, but it has been added to in subsequent years. The bell tower, carved

pew A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview The first backless stone benches began to appear in English churches in the thirt ...

s and the de Tracy tomb (see below) are

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The chancel-arch

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

and the '

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

' window were designed by

Selwyn Image Selwyn Image (17 February 1849, Bodiam, Sussex – 21 August 1930, London) was an important British artist, designer, writer and poet associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. He designed stained-glass windows, furniture, embroidery, and w ...

. The later parts of the building are of the 14th and 16th centuries. The carved bench-ends are 13th century, the wagon roof of the nave 15th century and the

chest tomb Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

of William de Tracey, Rector of Mortehoe has been dated to 1322.

Tomb of Sir William de Tracy

The tomb in the south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

has a ledger-line inscription to a certain "Sir William de Tracy". The upper slab of black or dark grey granite or marble is incised with the life-size figure of a priest in full vestments, holding a

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. R ...

to his breast. The inscription is much defaced, but was recorded by

Tristram Risdon Tristram Risdon (c. 1580 – 1640) was an English antiquarian and topographer, and the author of ''Survey of the County of Devon''. He was able to devote most of his life to writing this work. After he completed it in about 1632 it circulated ar ...

(d.1630):

"On whose mangled monument I found this fragment of a French inscription, in this ancient character: 'Syree Williame de Trace...Il enat eeys-Meercy'".

Possibly a variant of such phrase as ''que Dieu ait mercy de son âme'' ("may God have mercy on his soul"). On the north side of the base of the tomb are sculpted in relief three escutcheons, now devoid of any colourings, listed from east to west : *The first, showing ''three

lions passant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Christi ...

in pale'', is possibly for Camville. Geoffrey de Camville (d.1308) was the second husband of Maud de Tracy (d.pre-1279), granddaughter and sole heiress of Henry de Tracy (d.1274), feudal baron of Barnstaple.Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.104, Barnstaple *The second, ''two bars'', possibly for

FitzMartin FitzMartin or Fitz Martin was the surname of a Normans, Norman family based in England and Wales between 1085 and 1342. Earliest Generations The earliest well-documented progenitor of this family was Robert fitz Martin, Robert, whose charter t ...

. Maud de Tracy's first husband was Nicholas FitzMartin (d.1260), feudal baron of Blagdon, Somerset. Their son William I FitzMartin (d.1324) inherited Barnstaple. The Victorian stained glass shield in the window of the south transept shows this shield as ''Azure, two bars argent'', whilst the arms generally attributed to the Martin family are ''Argent, two bars gules'' *The third, a

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltatori ...

, charged with five

roundels A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

. The Victorian stained glass shield in the window of the south transept shows this shield as ''Argent, a saltire gules charged with five

bezants In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (Old French ''besant'', from Latin ''bizantius aureus'') was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Roman ''solidus''. The word itself comes from th ...

'' A further shield is shown in the Victorian window: ''Or, two bends gules, in a canton an escallop sable'', a representation of the arms of Tracy: "''Or, an escallop sable in chief between two bends gules''". On the same north side of the base at the west end, beneath plain canopies, are effigies representing possibly St. Catherine with her wheel, and St. Mary Magdalene, with long flowing hair. The south side of the tomb-base is divided into seven compartments, filled with Early Decorated

gothic tracery Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...

; the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

forms the subject of the relief sculpture at the west end of the tomb-base, showing Christ on the cross with two standing figures either side. Lord Sudeley insists this is the tomb of William de Tracy who is known to have been the incumbent of this church, endowed a chantry at Mortehoe in 1307/8, and died in 1322. The priest is described as 'Sir' because this was an oft-used prefix for priests in medieval times.Sudeley, Lord (1987) p.91 It is unclear what family relationship, if any, this man had to

William de Tracy Sir William de Tracy (died ) was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with '' caput'' at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to th ...

(d.post 1172), the notorious co-assassin of Archbishop

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

(d.1170).

Gallery

CrucifixionDeTracyTombMortehoeDevon.jpg, Crucifixion scene, sculpted in low relief on west end of base of chest tomb of Sir William de Tracy (d.1322), cleric, incumbent of Mortehoe; South transept. WilliamDeTracyEnhancedTombMortehoeChurch.JPG, Enhanced outline of figure incised on slab, showing chalice held to the chest and clerical vestments.

References

External links

Official site
Retrieved 12 April 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Morthoe, Saint Mary's Church Church of England church buildings in Devon Grade I listed churches in Devon