The Church of Saint Pancras is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church in Widecombe-in-the-Moor,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. It is also known as the Cathedral of the Moor. The church is Grade I listed. It has received the nickname "Cathedral of the Moor" because of its 120-foot tower and relatively large capacity for such a small village. The church was originally built in the fourteenth century, in the

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

(late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

) style, using locally quarried

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. It was enlarged over the following two centuries, partly on the proceeds of the local tin-mining trade. Inside, the ceiling is decorated with a large number of decorative roof bosses, including the tinner's emblem of a circle of

three hares The three hares (or three rabbits) is a circular motif appearing in sacred sites from China , the Middle East and the churches and synagogues of Europe, in particular those of Devon, England (as the " Tinners' Rabbits"), . It is used as an ar ...

(known locally as the Tinners' Rabbits). The church was badly damaged in the Great Thunderstorm of 1638, apparently struck by

ball lightning Ball lightning is a rare and unexplained phenomenon described as Luminosity, luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter. Though usually associated with thunderstorms, the observed phenomenon is repor ...

. An afternoon service was taking place at the time, and the building was packed with approximately 300 worshippers. Four of them were killed, around 60 injured. According to local legend, the Great Thunderstorm was caused by the village being visited by the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

. The size of the parish meant that, for centuries, families were obliged to walk for miles to go to church at Widecombe every Sunday. The task was even more challenging when it came to burying their dead, whose coffins had to be carried over rough ground and both up and down exceptionally steep hills. Halfway up

Dartmeet Dartmeet is a popular tourist spot in the centre of Dartmoor, Devon, England at . It lies at the end of the B3357 road, about east of Two Bridges. From here, the road continues eastwards as a minor road with restrictions on the size of vehic ...

Hill, for example, lies the Coffin Stone, close to the road, where the body would be placed to allow the bearers to take a rest. The rock is split in two along its length. Local legend has it that the body of a particularly wicked man was laid there. God took exception to this, and struck the stone with a thunderbolt, destroying the coffin and splitting the stone in two.

Beatrice Chase Beatrice Chase (5 July 1874 – 3 July 1955) was the pen name for a British writer known during the first half of the 20th century for her Dartmoor-based novels. Her real name was Olive Katharine Parr, and she claimed to be directly descended fro ...

, a writer known during the first half of the 20th century for her Dartmoor-based novels, is buried in the churchyard.

References

External links

Official village site

Widecombe in The Dartmoor ArchiveThe Church House information at the National Trust

The Church House, Widecombe-in-the-Moor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Church of Saint Pancras Church of England church buildings in Devon Dartmoor English churches dedicated to St Pancras