Churches of the British Isles

St Nicholas' Priory (Barlinch Abbey), otherwise Barlynch Priory, once sat on the western side of the A396, a little over a kilometre north of the Jury Hill turning, framed to its west by the River Exe. The farmhouse on the southern side of the property contains the few surviving traces of this Augustinian priory. It was founded by William de Say in 1154-1189 and was dissolved in 1537. The only visible remains are some fragments of walling attached to the farmhouse.

Bridgetown Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is on the northern side of Week Lane, flanked on the corner to the east by Chapel Cottage and the A396 road. The chapel was in formal use by the end of the Victorian period, although a specific date of opening seems to be unavailable. It was still in use after the war but it closed at some point between the 1960s and the late 1990s. Today the chapel is a white (formerly pink) private residence known as 'The Old Chapel'.

The Church of St Peter, Exton, sits to the north of Lype Lane, with an access point on its eastern side. Herringbone masonry in the nave indicates a Norman date of construction for the earliest version of this church. The rest of the building has been reconstructed, with the crenellated two-stage tower being added in the thirteenth century and the aisle in the fifteenth. It was restored and the chancel was rebuilt in 1876, and the tower was restored in 1928.

The churchyard has been taking burials since at least the medieval period. Overall the rather plain building uses a random rubble construction, and consists of a nave, north aisle, chancel, plain embattled west two-stage tower, diagonal with buttresses at the base and with wooden bell-chamber windows being added later. Square-head windows are fitted to the nave and aisle, with a pointed arch in the chancel. Inside is a glass mosaic reredos of about 1890.

Winsford (Second) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is on the east side of Edbrooke Road, sixty metres south of the West Howetown Lane junction. As late as 1810 Winsford folk were said to be notoriously wicked, with Methodist preachers in continual danger of being stoned. Exmoor later settled down, and this chapel in 1884 replaced the first one in the village (see 'related links'). In 1932 it was Winsford Methodist Church. Today it is a private residence known as 'Weirside'.

Four photos on this page kindly contributed by Tony Ethridge, David Cronin, Dave's Glassy Eye, and Keith Guyler / British Methodist Buildings, all via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, and one copyright © David Smith via Geograph, reused under a cc licence. Additional information from Old Dulverton and Around: Dulverton - Bury - Brushford - Exebridge (The Exmoor Press, pp 55/57), from Dulverton Conservation Area Appraisal (Dulverton and District Civic Society, 2002), and from The Book of Dulverton, Brushford, Bury and Exebridge (Halsgrove, pp 37/45/123).