Synopsis: Heritage Open Days visits to Southernhay United Reformed Church, St Anne’s Church, Sidwell Street Methodist Church, 21 The Mint (St Nicholas Priory) and St Mary Steps Church.
This blog post describes visits made possible under the Heritage Open Days (HOD) scheme. To see other blog posts which describe Heritage Open Days visits, please see Tag in column to the right.
Saturday 12th September: Southernhay United Reformed Church, St Anne's Church, Sidwell Street Methodist Church & 21 The Mint (St Nicholas Priory)
On this first day of two doing the rounds on Heritage Open Days (HOD) for 2015, I was joined by my sister-in-law Christine. We agreed to meet up at the Southernhay United Reformed Church, and that is where our story starts.
Southernhay United Reformed Church, Exeter
Firstly, let me say this is my second visit to this church under the HOD scheme. Please see my earlier post for a description and photos from my previous visit. In this post my writings concentrate on aspects not referred to in my previous post.
Today, for the first time, I was given the opportunity to ascend to, what I think one would describe as, the west gallery. This is quite unlike anything I’ve seen before. It slopes quite acutely and has cinema-style seating.
From up in the gallery I was able to gain a close-up view of the stained glass windows. These, like the majority of this church, are modern, dating from the 1950s. One window is rather colonial in content, and the steward showing me around made the comment that it was not the church’s favourite window, as it’s rather out of keeping with the times. This window, ‘Ye shall know the truth’ window, is just one example of the fine stained glass to be found in this church.
The gallery also offers an excellent view of the chancel and altar. It’s well worth the climb should you get the opportunity.
And, to finish on a lighter note: there is a children’s area at the back of the church. I did like the ‘Please do not use this pew’ notice on the adjacent seating. This is obviously considered a highly hazardous area for it to contain this health warning.
St Anne's Church, Exeter
We next headed up town to visit Chapel at St Anne's Almshouses (Grade II* Listed). I don’t care to think how many times I would have walked past this church and its almshouses. Finally, today, I got the chance to take a look inside. Situated on a busy roundabout, it is a little oasis of calm in a busy and frenetic world.
The church is on the left, the St Anne's Almhouses (Grade II Listed) on the right, both of which are reached via the lychgate in the foreground.
There is a small enclosed garden area between the church and the almshouses. This area had been recently rejuvenated and must make for a charming and tranquil place in which to sit in peace whilst the bustle of the world continues unabated all around.
I wasn’t prepared for what I would find inside St Anne’s Church. The church is in the orthodox tradition. Apparently this is one of only two such churches in Devon, the other being the Church of St Simeon and the Prophetess Anna, Combe Martin, north Devon.
As soon as we entered into the church we were transported into an eastern world. There was a lot of iconographic artwork all around, in a style I’d come across in Byzantine churches on the Continent. It gives the church a warmly exotic quality. Deep vibrant colours are everywhere you look. It is a very tiny intimate church. A resident from one of the almshouses came and sat for a time in quiet contemplation.
I am far from clear how this orthodox church has come to be here. The two orthodox churches of Devon have a web site for further information.
Sidwell Street Methodist Church, Exeter
We popped our heads into Sidwell Street Methodist Church (Grade II* Listed) for a quick look around, not that it isn’t deserving of more time. The reason we made this a short visit, was that Christine and I had seen the church before. I’d written up notes and taken photos on a previous HOD visit of mine (see my blog post: 12 September 2010 – Trip: Sidwell Street Methodist Chapel, Exeter).
What caught our eye on this visit was this plaque which lists the ministers of Mount Pleasant Methodist Church, which no longer exists.
21 The Mint (St Nicholas Priory), Exeter
21 The Mint, Refectory, St Nicholas Priory 003
21, The Mint (Grade II* Listed) struck me as odd. What was I about to see? Well, it’s not straight forward. Firstly, there is the fact that what this was once part of the Benedictine St Nicholas' Priory. This, at the time of dissolution, became a Tudor home. And since then, what remains has in part been reinstated to its priory appearance, in part reinstated to its Tudor appearance, and in part is living accommodation, of a Georgian period, currently tenanted. Add to this the fact that a lane, The Mint, now cuts through what was once the old priory, it is all rather confusing, to me at least.
What is visible in the photo above, is the Tudor parlour, as it has been recreated, with authentic wall decoration, and the original Tudor ceiling. What can be seen in the photo left, is the old priory kitchen. This is a tall ceilinged room with a huge fireplace and chimney. At one time the refectory would have been attached to it, but what remains of the refectory building is now 21 The Mint, and is to be found the other side of The Mint lane.
The property now referred to as 21 The Mint is approached via a courtyard that at one time would have been the cloisters of the old priory. Something of the serene and tranquil nature of the onetime cloisters seems to remain in this space to this day. The entrance doorway to 21 The Mint is behind the large plant on the left of this photo.
This room, now the living room of 21 The Mint, highlights just how removed certain parts of the building now are from its priory origins. This is thought to have once been the refectory of the priory. I don’t think there would have been any easy chairs at that time. A little difficult to reimagine the days of monks around their table. But, a charming room all the same, and good to see that it remains in use to this day.
Sunday 13th September: St Mary Steps Church
St Mary Steps Church, Exeter
An inauspicious start to this visit: I forgot my camera. I had my mobile phone and tablet PC with me, so not a serious problem. Then I forgot to take a photo of the exterior of the church, so instead, here’s an old photo of Church of St Mary Steps (Grade I Listed) from the Francis Frith collection. As it happens, the clock in the tower is currently being repaired and there is scaffolding obscuring the church, so this is probably a better deal anyway (my photo of church in snow).
It has been a long standing wish of mine to see the interior of this church, which is rarely open, other than for church services. It is not large. The south aisle, seen on the right in this photo, was added when the preaching of sermons was introduced, when seating was added to the church. Prior to that the congregation would have stood for the duration of each service.
The singularly most important and valuable item in the church is the Norman font. I was very keen to see this. It has the classic chevron patterning around its midriff. It is a symmetrically patterned font without figurative art. It is a great survivor. The font hood is by that renowned Exeter sculptor Harry Hems, originally created for St Mary Major Church. The basin of the font is lead lined.
Harry Hems also produced the sculptures on the front facing panel of the altar, of which this image is a detail. This sculpture of Mary and infant Jesus is fittingly very prominent in the centre panel of the altar. The church is said to be ‘high’, and in doctrine, functioning close to Roman Catholic in its style of service, complete with incense, of which burners were to be seen about the church. The original use of incense was to disinfect the putrid smell from the slightly less than clean worshippers.
The rood screen is in two sections, both medieval. The first separates the nave from the chancel; the second is in the south aisle, where the St Peter Minor chantry chapel is to be found. They have different histories. That in the south aisle was saved from the demolition of St Mary Major church, which stood in the Cathedral Close. The screen in nave/chancel area was assembled from various medieval parts of unknown origin, that had been collected by Harry Hems. Therefore, it is the screen to be found in the south aisle which is the more authentic. But the screen in the nave/chancel area has been very well constructed, and is a highly creditable example of the talents of Harry Hems.
The east window is interesting in that is very modern, having been designed and erected in 1966. The design was produced by John Haywood, whose signature can be found in a corner of the window. Although the style is definitely very modern and angular, it is not garish or overwhelming in form as so many modern stained glass windows seem to be. It has a quiet understated quality, whilst at the same time radiating a certain powerful aurora. The colour mix is quite unusual; a palette of clashing colours.
The tester, or 'baldacchino', as can be found in St Peter's Basilica, Rome. These are often, as in St Peter's, held aloft on four pillars. Hanging the baldacchino from the ceiling, as is done here, avoids obscuring the altar from the congregation.
The tester bears upon it a Tetramgrammaton, that is to say four letters, the four letters which spell in Hebrew the name of God, which is usually translated in our Bibles as 'the Lord'.
I can’t leave off without mentioning the clock, not to be seen today, but normally a major item of interest. It was made in 1619; the clock, the Matthew Miller Clock, has been stopped because of pigeons; 30 sacks full of pigeon dropping to be precise. Pigeons had got into the clock chamber; the clock has had to stopped as it is now swathed in plastic sheets until works can be completed.
I’ll end my discourse on this church on a note regarding a question I had in my mind on arriving for this talk. My father grew up in the neighbourhood, the old West Quarter of Exeter, and yet all ceremonial aspects of the family seem to have been conducted at St Mary Major. I’d wondered for some time, why the closer church, St Mary Steps, wasn’t their parish. It was explained, during today’s talk, that although the church has always been situated inside the city walls, the parish of this church was down towards the river. This was the old working, or industrial area of the city. The situation has now changed, and it appears that, probably since the time of the demise of St Mary Major, the parish boundaries have been redrawn, and I think, where my father’s family resided (Rack Street), would now fall within the parish of St Mary Steps.
These had been a fascinating couple of days. I must make sure I have a date in my calendar for HODs next year.
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