Churches of the British Isles

St Gregory's Church, Venn Ottery, can be found at the western end of Barton Mews, with Lynch Head on its northern flank. The church has a complicated structural history. The red stone tower is its oldest surviving section, claimed to be Anglo-Saxon (in the sixty-or-so years before 1066) but also being dated to 1095, which makes it Norman. It is the only part of the church to escape the devastating fire which destroyed much of Venn Ottery in the eighteenth century.

The rest of the fifteenth century Norman replacement church building was lost to the fire, the nave still being thatched at this time. It was fully rebuilt in 1882 by Packham & Groote of Exeter, with woodcarvings by Hems of Exeter. The body is in local stone randon rubble with Beerstone ashlar quoins and details. The slate roof has crested and pierced ridge tiles. The church's small interior is simple, fully in the Early English style with wooden benches and an original font.

The Church of St John the Evangelist, Tipton St John, is raised above the main lane, on its western side just to the north of the primary school and with Sundial Care Home on its western flank. It was founded as a parish church following the creation of the parish in 1837. Local people paid for the land and construction of the church, with the building being consecrated on 29 April 1840 by the bishop of Exeter. A church school was established in 1843 and still has close links today.

The church was designed in the style of the thirteenth century Salisbury Cathedral by John Hayman, who was later to become Devon's foremost architect. The single bell was installed in 1839. The building was designed to accommodate two hundred and thirty-two on the ground floor, and a further seventy-eight in the gallery, although the nave was reseated later in the nineteenth century. The building is notable for its large lancet windows and carved sanctuary chairs.

Heathlands Free Church, Higher Metcombe, sits at the very southern end of Higher Broad Oak Road, below the Aylesbeare road from which this photo is taken. It is shown on the OS 25-inch map of 1892-1914 in a very compact building. It is not marked at all as a religious site in 1937-1961, but is shown as Heathlands Congregational Church on the 1949-1968 map. Now seemingly the site forms the front garden of a private residence, old buildings swept away.

Photos on this page kindly contributed by Sam Weller, Rex Harris, and Colin Baxter, all via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, one photo copyright © David Smith via Geograph, reused under a cc licence, and one from the History Files collection.