St Mary Magdalene, South Molton
St Mary Magdalene, South Molton
St Mary Magdalene is a Grade I parish church in the churchyard at South Molton, Devon, a mainly fifteenth-century Perpendicular town church in the Diocese of Exeter.
- Location
- South Molton, Devon
- Country
- England
- County
- Devon
- City / town
- South Molton
- Address
- North Street, South Molton, Devon, EX36 3AN
- Postcode
- EX36 3AN
- Built
- Mainly fifteenth century; restored in the nineteenth century
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Exeter
- Parish
- South Molton St Mary Magdalene
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Perpendicular
- Materials
- Sandstone rubble with slate roof
- Grid reference
- SS 713 259
- Opening hours
- Open 9am to 4pm Monday to Saturday. Closed after services on Sunday morning.
- Access
- Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England records a parish church built of sandstone rubble with a slate roof, mainly fifteenth-century and restored in the nineteenth. The west tower is of four stages with buttresses, a crenellated parapet with finials and grotesque waterspouts. The plan is nave with north and south aisles and a south porch with sundial. Traceried windows retain Victorian glass. The five-bay nave has finely carved capitals. The listing notes a fifteenth-century pulpit, a stone font and good eighteenth-century wall monuments.
Devon’s Historic Environment Record states that the present church is probably the third on the site; a predecessor is said to have been built between 1150 and 1270. The church is described as mostly Perpendicular and embattled; a spire stood until 1765 (the tower was damaged in a thunderstorm of 1751). A clerestory was added to the nave in 1864. Chancel masonry appears older than the rest, with an unceiled wagon roof. Arcades of five Beer-stone pillars divide the aisles from the nave.