Holy Cross Church 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, ...

parish church in

Newton Ferrers Newton Ferrers is a village and former Manorialism, manor, civil parish, civil and ecclesiastical parish, now in the parish of Newton and Noss, in the South Hams district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated on a creek of the River Y ...

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. The existing church has 13th-century origins, with a major restoration and rebuild of 1885–86. Holy Cross has been a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

since 1960.

History

A church has been in existence at Newton Ferrers since at least 1084, when a church dedicated to St Mary's was recorded in the Saxon Geld Roll. The church was rebuilt by the Ferrers family in the early 12th-century. It was rebuilt again in 1260 and later enlarged by the rector, Rev. Henry de Ferrers, in 1342. Further alterations and enlargement took place in 1460, including the addition of the aisles and tower. The church underwent a £3,500 restoration in 1885–86 to the design of

George Fellowes Prynne George Halford Fellowes Prynne (1853–1927) was a Victorian and Edwardian English church architect. Part of the High Church school of Gothic Revival Architecture, Prynne's work can be found across Southern England. Biography Early life George H ...

. Owing to its dilapidated condition, much of the church was rebuilt. Messrs. Stevenson and son of Newton Ferrers carried out the restoration, with Mr. F. M. Rowse as clerk of the works. Both Prynne and his father, the Rev. George Rundle Prynne, were also involved in supervising the restoration. Many of the new fittings, including the font, pulpit, parclose screens, litany desk and credence table were made by

Harry Hems Harry Hems (12 June 1842 – 5 January 1916) was an English architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor who was particularly inspired by Gothic architecture and a practitioner of Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival. He founded and ran a la ...

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. He also carved the bosses in the church's oak wagon roof. The church was reopened by the

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

, the Right Rev. Edward Bickersteth, on 23 February 1886. The restoration left only the west tower and the north and south arcades to retain their medieval structure.

Architecture

Holy Cross is built of stone rubble with freestone dressings and slate roofs. It is made up of a

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 ...

, north and south aisles,

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

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

, south porch and west three-stage tower. Many of the 1885–86 windows are in the

Perpendicular style Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

. The chancel's south window dates to the 15th-century and the north window to the 13th-century. The church contains a double

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. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

and triple

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, typically made of stone, located on the liturgical south side of the altar—often within the chancel—intended for use by the officiating priest, deacon, an ...

, both of which are dated to the 13th or 14th-centuries.

Churchyard

The churchyard was enlarged in 1884, when the rector, Rev. S. H. Archer, with assistance from his family, purchased a large plot of land on the north side of the existing grounds as a memorial to his late wife. The Bishop of Exeter, the Right Rev.

Frederick Temple Frederick Temple (30 November 1821 – 23 December 1902) was an English academic, teacher and Clergy, churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902). Early ...

, consecrated the new ground on 27 October 1884.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newton Ferrers, Holy Cross Church Churches in Devon Church of England church buildings in Devon Grade I listed churches in Devon 13th-century church buildings in England