St Luke's 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, ...

church in

Simonsbath Simonsbath () is a small village high on Exmoor in the England, English ceremonial county, county of Somerset. It is the principal settlement in the Exmoor civil parish, which is the largest and most sparsely populated civil parish on Exmoo ...

Exmoor Exmoor () is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simons ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. The church, which was designed by

Henry Clutton Henry Clutton (19 March 1819 – 27 June 1893)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , was an English architect and designer. Life Henry Clutton was born on 19 March 1819, the son of Owen and Elizabeth Goodinge Clutton. He studied with Edwa ...

and built in 1855–56, has been a

Grade II 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, H ...

since 1959. In addition to being a place of worship, today the church is also used to hold concerts and other events. It is the venue of the annual Simonsbath Festival.

History

The small settlement of Simonsbath was established after Exmoor was purchased by John Knight from the

Commissioners of Woods and Forests The Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues were established in the United Kingdom in 1810 by merging the former offices of Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases and Surveyor General of the Land Revenues of the Crown in ...

in 1818. As the population grew in relation to increased local agricultural work and mining operations, eighteen residents of the estate put forward a petition in 1845 calling for a church to be built. At the time, the nearest church was the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

at Exford, approximately six miles from Simonsbath. St Luke's was built by the order of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, at a time when the estate was owned by Frederick Knight, who inherited it from his father in 1850.The North Devon Journal - Exmoor: Consecration of the new church at Simonsbath by the Bishop of Bath and Wells - 23 October 1856 - page 5 In 1818, as part of the Inclosure Act 1773, a 12-acre plot of land was reserved by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

for the construction of a church if future development of Exmoor required a place of worship for its inhabitants. An inspection of the proposed site was carried out by two Commissioners in May 1853 and plans for the church drawn up by

. The Commissioners of Woods and Forests also provided a grant of £1,815 towards the construction of the church and parsonage. Preliminary works began in May 1855 when the contractor, Mr. Amos Hole of Kingsbrompton, began preparing the site. However, owing to the low tender the builder had submitted to win the contract, Hole soon declared bankruptcy over its construction, with a debt of £587 owed to various local tradesmen. The contract then passed on to another local builder, John How, who also erected the parsonage. The completed church was consecrated by the

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

, Rev.

Robert Eden, 3rd Baron Auckland Robert John Eden, 3rd Baron Auckland (10 July 1799 – 25 April 1870), styled The Honourable Robert Eden from birth until 1849, was a British clergyman. He was Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1847 to 1854 and Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1854 to ...

, on 18 October 1856, who attended with the Chancellor of the Diocese and other local members of the clergy, including those of surrounding parishes. A local Wesleyan choir performed at the ceremony. With the opening of the church, Exmoor became its own parish.

Architecture

St Luke's is built of local

Blue Lias The Blue Lias is a formation (stratigraphy), geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest ...

, with

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

dressings and a slate roof, in an Early English style. The bellcote at the western end of the church contains one bell. The interior is made up of a three-bay nave, chancel, south porch and vestry. The floor is laid with tessellated tiles, while the open roof, seats, pulpit and reading desk are all oak-stained. A stained glass window was later added to the church in remembrance of the local men killed in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Luke's Church, Simonsbath Churches in Somerset Grade II listed churches in Somerset Church of England church buildings in Somerset Grade II listed buildings in West Somerset Churches completed in 1856 Gothic Revival church buildings in England Henry Clutton buildings