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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.

THROWLEIGH. St. Mary. The church consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, divided from nave by four arches resting on clustered columns, south porch, and west tower with four bells. The rood staircase and door remain, but the ancient rood screen is gone, and its place taken by a modern beam of oak with a cross in the centre and a candlestick on each side. The reredos is modern, but the carving is fine, and a good example of the work done at Oberammergau [Germany]. The pulpit is well carved and is made out of some old bench-ends. On the south side of the chancel is a carved arch of granite, formerly on the north side of the chancel, but removed to its present position during a restoration of the church; it is supposed to have been an Easter Sepulchre. The priest's doorway is remarkably fine [plate 232], probably the finest priest's doorway in Devonshire; one would hardly expect in an out-of-the-way village to find such an excellent piece of architecture.

The registers date: baptisms, 1653; marriages, 1654; burials, 1653.

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Last updated: 16 Jul 2007 - Brian Randell