St Peter & St Paul, Ermington

St Peter and St Paul is a Grade I parish church at Ermington, Devon, in the Diocese of Exeter, known for its twisted fourteenth-century needle spire.

Overview

Historic England dates the church to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, allowing that some Norman fabric may survive. J. D. Sedding restored it about 1889. Walls are stone rubble with freestone dressings and slate roofs. Nave and chancel are in one, the chancel fourteenth-century, with a priest’s door under a multi-cusped ogee arch and a Perpendicular five-light east window. Fourteenth-century north and south transepts have curvilinear and Perpendicular windows; long fifteenth-century aisles continue the Perpendicular work. The tall west tower is about thirteenth-century, with thin corner buttresses, small lancet bell-openings and an embattled parapet. An early fourteenth-century stone needle-spire has a conspicuous twist; it was rebuilt in the 1850s retaining the original twist.

The interior has a fifteenth-century five-bay north arcade and three-bay south arcade. Sedding’s fittings include carved choir stalls, benches, parclose screens, pulpit, lectern, font cover and a large alabaster reredos of the Adoration. Monuments include the 1583 tomb chest with brass effigies of William Strashleigh and his wife. The church is open all day, every day.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1308362
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Peter and St Paul, Ermington