11. St Michael & All Angels Church

Christianity and the founding of the Church in Great Torrington

Christianity arrived in Devon with the Kingdom of Wessex; Wessex had become Christian in 655 AD under King Cenwahl. Although the Dumnonii tribes had been defeated at battle in 825 and 838 by the Saxons it is not clear how much control the Saxon kingdom actually retained on a day-to-day basis over the south west peninsula until Alfred the Great and potentially his Grandson, Althestan, who both had extensive estates in the region, including at Great Torrington.

Whilst Christianity had been adapted by the elites in Saxon Wessex and neighbouring Cornwall, in the rural populations people would largely have adapted a mix of their known localised beliefs and the new religion. Bodmin became the ancient centre of Christianity for the peninsula, with the great Priory of Bodmin exerting real power, having its roots and connections with the church in Ireland and Irish saint preachers. The independent Bishop of Bodmin, eventually acknowledge the primacy and authority of The Archbishop of Canterbury in 870AD.

We known in 937AD Athelstan, the ‘First King of the Ӕnglish’ gifted the tithes (taxes) from his Royal Manor and estates at Great Torrington to the Priors of Bodmin, in a grant which extorts them to pray for his soul. We can assume Athelstan, who died in 939AD was potentially already ill at this time. 937AD therefore is the first date that we can associate the church and Great Torrington as a settlement. We cannot know to what extent the church interfered in the settlement which was already a town by the end of the Saxon period but it was likely that if there wasn’t a formalised church there may have been a preaching cross or similar. The size of Torrington which was already a town by Saxon times would indicate that there was a church, although the early building was likely built of timber and very different from our modern concept of a church building.

In 909AD a Cathedral was built in Crediton by the Saxons, from where a Bishop administered church estates in Devon and in parts of Cornwall, the Saxon Bishop had a palace at nearby Bishops Tawton in North Devon. In 1050AD the Bishopric was moved to the bigger city of Exeter and the Diocese of Exeter formed, under whose authority Great Torrington then fell.

The first recorded church in the Manor at Torrington was built at the castle, a chapel initially just for the Norman residents, dedicated to St James. A document in 1139AD records the castle as being destroyed by fire during a battle and notes that it had a tower, a hall and a chapel. This chapel survived, in an altered state, after the castle was abandoned, having been converted into a school in the 1500s. By 1538, the loss of St James, as an active church or chapel of ease is confirmed by John Leyland, a travelling historian who wrote in his Itinerary of Devon ‘Torington is a great large toune………in the toune is but one paroch chirch.’ In the 1780s when the converted castle-church was found to be in a very in poor state, it was almost wholly remodelled by the town authorities into the Bluecoat school, now called the Palmer centre and occupied by the gym. There is an 1194 reference to a church, but it is disputed if it is the town church or that which was at the castle.

By the 1200s the town at Torrington had grown large and prosperous separate from the castle and the people wanted their own grand church to make a statement about their community, its wealth and piousness. The earliest record of the church in the ‘town’ at Torrington, which we now know as St Michaels is in 1259AD; with the charter recorded instating a priest named Humphrey to a ‘newly built’ church. This could be read two ways, that there was not a previous church or that one has been newly built, replacing an older building.

St Michael and All Angels Church

The church in Torrington is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels; the main fair in the town was held on Michaelmas every year (29th September), the saint’s feast day and would have been as much a religious celebration for the town as it as an important economic event. A series of services, ritual processions and events would have occurred throughout the fair-day, performed by the clergy and lay preachers.

The church building is Grade II* Listed; it was listed in 1951 in one of the first rounds of listing protection surveys after the Second World War. This level of Listing means it is considered of national importance and special architectural interest.

Only the east end of the church and its eastern pillars and arches of the nave are medieval, parts of the chancel and south transept which was formerly the belfry may date to the first church of 1259, much being extended in the 1300s and 1400s. It is believed it was much restored in the late 15th century with monies from patron Lady Margaret Beaufort, with a strong Perpendicular architectural character, who also gifted a portion of her famous library to the town, a small library being built to the south-east of the church, now used as the vestry. This building can be identified by its Tudor Rose crenellations around the roof.

The south tower, with broach spire dated to the 14th century; sadly huge parts of the church required repair and it was significantly rebuilt in 1651 after an explosion of accidentally lit powder kegs during the 1646 English Civil War battle between the Royalist and Parliamentary Armies. There is a stone outside the church on the south transept, inscribed: ‘This church was blowen up with the powder Febrye 16th Anno 1645 and rebuilt Ao 1651’.

The pulpit is considered particularly fine and it is speculated may even be by a London manufacturer. The town had a period of regeneration after the 1660s after Charles II ascended the throne; Royal grants were levied in benefit of towns and parishes who had been loyal to the crown.

The tower was rebuilt again in the 1800s, moved to the west end of the church, finished in 1828 by local architect W.B Cock; however the new steeple blew down in a storm in 1838 and the church was heavily restored in the 1860s by nationally famous church-architect William White, drawings of the church from the early 19th century show it looking quite different.

The church has eight bells that hang in the tower, one dates to 1632, six date to 1718 and one to the 1800s. They have been rehung several times, including in the recent renovations in 2018/2019.

Rectors and Clergy of St Michaels Church

In the 16th century Master Thomas Wolsey, later Cardinal Wolsey was Rector for Great Torrington, when he was chaplain to young Prince Henry in Henry VII’s court. He added the patronage and tithes of the holding to his new college set up at Oxford, when he was Archibishop of York. The name of the college was later changed after his downfall to Christ’s Church College. The college is still patron of the church today.

The second famous clergyman is John Howe; a Puritan theologian, famous as a preacher he was known to stay in the pulpit between 9 and 4 on Sundays; he was appointed to Great Torrington in 1654. So famous did he become he was impressed into Oliver Cromwell’s service as private chaplain in 1656 after a brief trip to London. He returned to Torrington, which he loved in 1662 but an influential dissenter he left England in the 1680s at risk of trial and imprisonment, returning to welcome William of Orange in 1688.

The third is Hugh Peter; a fanatical Presbyterian minister, who was half Dutch. He became army chaplain to General Fairfax and the New Model Army. He became Rector for a period at Torrington, however was unpopular with the formerly Royalist townspeople, having been present during the 1646 battle. He was executed for regicide upon the Restoration of the Monarchy for his active involvement in King Charles execution.

In the 20th century William Kemble Martin, the famous naturalist was Vicar, whilst he wrote ‘Concise British Flora’.

Interesting Features of the Graveyard

The domed cobbled grave planted with trees opposite the church is supposedly the mass grave of the victims of the explosion in 1646 during the Civil War battle; a large hole was dug the remains which were unidentifiable and rubble etc was buried. The churchyard was remodelled in 1813 and again in the mid 19th century and the trees planted here date to that time, so it is not clear, if this is the site or was associated with it at that time. Divining in the 1990s did identify disturbance but further archaeological study of the location has not occurred. Colloquially the mound is known as the giant’s grave. Every February a procession in the town recalls the battle and the mound is the focus of the short service of commemoration for all of the lives lost in 1646.

The sunken earthworks east of the church, between it and the pedestrian gate onto New Street are the remains of the medieval almshouses, demolished in the 1800s and rebuilt on New Street. The Almshouse was built by local philanthropist John Huddle in 1604; the almshouse could accommodate 8 people. By the early 1800s the buildings were in poor condition in the 1840s there was an investigation of commissioners into how the rent on the lands owned by the almshouse intended to support the incumbents and was being spent, with a suspicion of fraud. At this same time the church was also undergoing various phases of repair and restoration and the almshouses, clustering the chancel were demolished so it could be extended. Much of the stonework was used to rebuild a new set of Gothic almshouses on New Street, in 1843.