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Between 1908 and 1916, John Stabb, an ecclesiologist and photographer who lived in Torquay, published three volumes of Some Old Devon Churches and one of Devon Church Antiquities. A projected second volume of the latter, regarded by Stabb himself as a complement to the former, did not materialize because of his untimely death on August 2nd 1917, aged 52. Collectively, Stabb's four volumes present descriptions of 261 Devon churches and their antiquities.

CHIVELSTONE. St. Sylvester. The church consists of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, embattled west tower with five bells, and is mainly Perpendicular in style. The oldest part of the church is the chancel, which was erected early in the 14th century, the aisles were added a century or more later.

There is a fine rood screen of the Dartmouth type [plate 55a], extending across nave and both aisles. The groining is gone and the spandrels are filled with the remains of the old carving. There are painted figures of Apostles and bishops on the lower panels of the chancel screen, in the aisles the panels are decorated with arabesque patterns. There are north and south parclose screens.

Special notice should be taken of the pulpit [plate 55b]. It is all in one piece, being hollowed out of the trunk of a large oak tree; the outside has been shaped into octagonal form, and is richly carved and painted to match the screen.

The living is a chapelry annexed together with the vicarage of Sherford to that of Stokenham.

The registers date from 1630.

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Last updated: 2 Jul 2007 - Brian Randell