Synopsis: A visit to St Mary Arches Church, Exeter. A church that is rarely open, I happened to glimpse a notice saying it would be open for a short period on this day, so I made this, my first visit to the church.
These brief notes summarise the most interesting aspects of St Mary Arches Church and give my impression of what the church is like today.
Notes from my visit:
- Mary Arches is said to be one of six medieval churches in the Parish of Central Exeter. The other churches being: St Martin’s; St Stephens; St Petrock’s; St Pancras’ and St Olave’s.
- The most significant feature of the church is the arcadia (the arches) of the church, which are of the 12th century, and therefore Norman. The church has two rows of arches, demarcating the central nave and chancel, each row being of four arches. The slim pillars are capped by decorated square capitals on which are set the double chamfered arches.
- The current tower is small and flush with the west front of the church. The medieval tower is believed to have been larger and straddled the street on arches, rather like the one to be found at St Stephen’s Church today. The name ‘Arches’, which at least dates from the 13th century, could have arisen from these arches.
- There are a number of significant monuments (or memorials) in the church. One of the most substantial being that of Thomas Andrew 1518, who was twice mayor of Exeter.
- The font (claimed to be 12th century) has a hood that is lifted from an ornamental iron bracket that was formerly used to support mayoral insignia (civic maces and sword of state).
- From the outside can be seen at the four top corners of the tower four stone balls that came originally from the water conduit that was in South Street.
Impressions from my visit:
There are interesting aspects of this church which I enjoyed seeing. And it is very pleasing to find it has not succumbed to the bulldozer. It does however have an air of a ravaged church, a church which has had it’s soul ripped from it. There is so little evidence of a functioning church. There are no hymn boards, no fixed altar rail, no choir, not even a lectern. There are no pews, just a few chairs in the nave, giving no sense of a place of worship. I believe its use today is mainly as a form of ‘office’ for the parish, a form of working space. But although lacking in atmosphere there’s no denying the excellence of the historic building that can be viewed at this rather understated gem of a church.
The church is now at the hub of a very busy road network with a large multi-storey car park for a neighbour, and ugly modern buildings all around. The lack of context for this church (e.g. shops and shoppers rather than parishioners) just adds to the incongruity of the building. Sadly the inner city has now become a zone which has been appropriated almost entirely by shops and consequently it is only these that now look to be integrally sited in this area, with everything else looking incongruous and adrift.
So, we now have a medieval church in a city that, through war time blitz and various inner-city development initiatives, sits like an island in the middle of a frenetic shopping world. A charming piece of architectural legacy that is struggling to hold its place and redetermine a long lost purpose.
Future dates when open to visitors according to poster on church (please verify before visiting):
* Thursday 23rd August 2012 – 2:30pm to 4pm
* Thursday 6th September 2012 – 2:30pm to 4pm
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