Churches of the British Isles

The tower and the north aisle were added in the 1400s and those survive in an unaltered state. The church was restored and at least partially rebuilt in the late 1400s and early 1500s. The chancel's south side is roughcast, containing a narrow priests door with two-centred head which was repaired in the 1800s. The chancel was restored again around 1840, and major renovations took place in 1896-1897. The tower was restored in 1924 by Harbottle-Reed.

Aylesbeare Congregational Chapel is located in Church Close, right up against the entrance to St Mary's church graveyard (see above). A date of construction is not available, but the chapel is shown on OS maps right back to the 'Six Inch 1830s-1880s' combined version via the NLS. It became Aylesbeare United Reformed Church in 1972 but was closed in or soon after 2006. A 2012 planning submission was lodged which saw it being converted to residential use.

Holy Trinity Church, Woodbury Salterton, is on the eastern side of Village Road, midway between the Stony Lane and Honey Lane turnings. The founding of this early Victorian church is linked heavily to a Miss Marianne of Greendale (house) who died in September 1847, aged just forty-two. It was consecrated by the bishop of Exeter on 4 September 1844. A later occupant of Greendale donated the parish hall which was opened by a later bishop of Exeter in 1910.

The Parish Church of St George, Clyst St George, is on the northern side of the Kenniford Farm Lodge lane, around a hundred and ten metres to the east of the Woodbury Road junction. A stone chancel was built on this site around 1300 in coursed rubble Heavitree stone, with the tower and nave being added about 1420. The list of rectors goes back as far as 1238 without interruption though, evidencing an older church building which has been lost to rebuilding.

By 1322 the church belonged to Merton Priory in Surrey. It was almost entirely rebuilt by the Reverend H T Ellacombe in 1854-1855, with work on the two-stage red sandstone tower being completed in 1859. The tower was destroyed in 1940, making this the first church to suffer wartime damage. That and the rest of the damaged building were rebuilt in 1952 in an updated but traditional style - not a copy of Ellacombe's work. This was re-consecrated in the same year.

Photos on this page kindly contributed by Joseph Rogers, JMC4 - Church Explorer, Alan, and Robert Slack, all via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.