Satterleigh Contents & Search

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.

SATTERLEIGH. St. Peter. The church [plate 199] consists of chancel, nave, south porch, and wooden bell turret at the west end with three bells. The altar is surrounded on three sides by railings, and against the wall on the north and south sides are seats for the communicants, with pegs over on which to hang their hats; there are also hat pegs on the north wall of the nave. Strictly speaking there is no chancel arch, the division between the chancel and nave is formed by a partition, reaching from the roof down to the level of the top of the windows, in front of this partition, on which are painted the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, the roof is panelled with oak with carved bosses. I think we have here another instance of the complete shutting off of the chancel, as at Parracombe and Molland. The old rood screen, of which there is now no trace, must have reached up to the bottom of the remaining partition.

There is an old carved pulpit with canopy, and a very good octagonal font with carved panels and shaft. On the north wall, within a decorated border, are painted two texts from the 95th Psalm; these texts on the walls of churches took the place of the old paintings of saints.

The registers date from 1574.

Return to top

Last updated: 13 Jul 2007 - Brian Randell