A brief history of the church
Extracted from a more detailed booklet “A Short History and Guide” to the Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel, Chagford
Celtic missionaries arrived in the Chagford locality between AD 500 and 700, but there is no evidence of any form of building until the twelfth century. A font top was found buried in the church when alterations were carried out in 1865. It was thought to date from 1160 and therefore Norman. If this is accurate, confirms the existence of a pre-thirteenth century place of worship in this area.
In 1196, the Norman Henri de Chageford became the Lord of the Manor, and a stone church was built at the edge of the manor lands. The Bishop of Exeter, Bishop Branscombe, dedicated the church to St Michael the Archangel on 30th July 1261.
In 1306, during the reign of Edward I, Chagford became by Charter one of the four Stannary Towns of Devon, for the weighing, assaying, and stamping of locally mined tin. The church at that time would probably have had a single central aisle with a chancel extending at the east end.
The present building was built mainly in the early part of the fifteenth century. The construction of the church suggests that the side aisles are essential to the structural stability of the whole building, and could not have been added at a later time.
GW Ormerod, in his “Historial Sketch of the Parish of Chagford”, concludes that, “until, probably, 1482 the original church did not extend eastwards beyond the present screen.” Inspection of the capitals of the pillars near the screen seems to support this theory, as they are different from all the others. Also, the external stonework over the church windows, on both the north and south elevations, shows stone relieving arches over the head drip mouldings, whereas the windows of the Chancel, and associated chapel room on the north elevation (later known as St Katherine’s Chapel) do not have such arches. The headless figure of a lamb on the roof ridge also coincides with the point where the Nave and Chancel join: Was it damaged when this work was undertaken?
Ormerod also said, ”judging from the style of the architecture and gurges (whirlpools), in the bosses of the roof, it is probable that the great family of Gorges were the promoters of the present building.” This family had an enormous influence in the Parish between 1439 and 1461. This would suggest that the church’s magnificent barrel roof was present at that time. However, the shape of the apex of the east window and its intersection with the barrel roof would suggest that there was a higher ridgeline for the roof at the time the east window was created. We are afraid, that on this issue the records are very silent.
A medieval rood screen and loft was put up in 1524. At that time, the church was used for many community activities – plays, pageants, dancing, and feasts, and perhaps a market – and the locked screen enabled a clear separation of the Chancel from the community body of the church. At the same time, an altar was installed in St Katherine’s Chapel, where the organ now stands. The Guild of St Katherine (regarded by some as the patron saint of tinners) was considerable in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but then it declined rapidly.
The first mention of a clock was in 1488 when in the old Churchwardens’ accounts there is an entry for a “charge of two pence for a nut for the clock.” The present clock, made by Benison, was obtained by subscription in 1867. An electric mechanism was installed in 1962, and this was replaced in 2001.
The tower was completed in 1513. It originally had four pinnacles, but these were removed in 1914 as, in the words of Revd Herbert Studdy the then Rector, “the old ones were poor and dangerous and could not be repaired, nor were they worthy of the Tower.” For financial reasons, the pinnacles were never replaced.
It is recorded that a new set of bells were hung when four old bells were sold in 1537.
There is reference to an organ which needed attention in 1527, possibly sited in a gallery at the back of the church. The next record is not until 1853, when a new organ was presented by Mrs Hayter Hames.
In 1865 there was significant re-ordering of the interior of the church. The old high pews were removed, and pitch pine ones were installed. These were later removed in the 2007 re-ordering. The plaster, and remains of the paintings, were removed from the walls – traces of the plaster can still be seen – and the north and south chancel screens were removed as they were found to be rotten. The centre aisle screen had previously been removed. In 1879, the gallery at the back of the church was removed, an arch into the tower opened, and the organ was re-sited to the northeast corner, where St Katherine’s Chapel was once located.
On Remembrance Sunday 1932, part of the ceiling collapsed from what was discovered to be an infestation of deathwatch beetle. The ceiling was removed, the roof stripped and re-slated, and defective timbers replaced. The work was completed in 1933 at a total cost of £2,585. The Churchwardens decided that the white ceiling panelling would only be replaced in the chancel and sanctuary, leaving the nave open to show the craftmanship of the roof timbers – a decision for which we are extremely grateful.
By the early 1960s, the church floor was replaced with granite, the traditional Dartmoor material, and a Ringers gallery created in the tower with a choir vestry at ground level. The Reredos (the ornamental screen behind the altar), Parclose screens (either side of the choir), the organ front and the chancel roof bosses were regilded, “restoring a great deal of colour” according to the Churchwardens’ Logbook.
More recently, the ancient northwest door, which was blocked up in the mid-20th century, was reopened to become the main church entrance. The pews were removed to create an open social area and an extended glass-fronted gallery created, enabling fine views of the ancient west window, with a servery and toilet below.
The funeral helmet above is a wooden model of an Esquire’s helmet once used in funeral processions. It belonged to a member of the Prouz family, who lived at Waye Barton during the Middle Ages and were connected by marriage to William the Conqueror.
Facts and Fictions of the church?
In the granite floor of the sanctuary are several memorials of Hayters, who succeeded each other as Rectors of Chagford. On the south side lies the tombstone of Mary Whiddon. It is said that she was shot by a jealous former suitor as she left the church after her wedding in 1641. It bears a poignant inscription:
“Reader wouldst know who here is laid,
Behold a matron yet maid,
A modest look, a pious heart,
A Mary for the better part,
But dry thine eyes, why wilt thou weep –
Such damsells do not die but sleep.”
It is believed that this inspired RD Blackmore, who was known to have visited Chagford, to write the story of Lorna Doone.
Tradition has it that any girl married from Whiddon House (now the Three Crowns Hotel) will meet the ghost of Mary Whiddon. It is now customary for all brides to pluck a flower from their bouquet and lay it on the tomb before they depart the church as a married couple.
Within the extensive ‘Wagon’ roofs are many fine carved bosses — a whirlpool, a pelican, the instruments of the Crucifixion and, most famous of all, the ‘Tinners’ Rabbits’. Each rabbit has two ears, yet only three ears between them. The motif has traditionally considered to be the emblem of the Dartmoor tinners, who were the centre of Chagford’s wealth in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. However, this symbol has now been found across the world and particularly on the Silk Route as far as China, and has been named the ‘Three Hares’.
