Church Heritage Record 615513

West tower with vestry in base and ringing chamber inserted above. 3-bay nave with south aisle and south porch. Chancel.

A settlement was recorded at Warkleigh in the Domesday survey and there has been a church on the site since the C13th. It is said that ‘Warkleigh’ derives from ‘waeferce’ meaning spider and ‘leigh’ meaning clearing in the wood. The settlement was mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is referred to as Nymet.

Within 500 metres of the site a scattering of Neolithic/Bronze Age flints have been found. There was a medieval manor at Warkleigh Barton. Church Cottage to the west, dates from the late C16th/early C17th and was at one time the parish poor house.

There are burials on all sides of the church. Given the date of the church, although there is no visual evidence, there is potential for burials beneath the floor of the church which has been relaid. C13th fabric survives.

The church dates to the C13th and some fabric of that date survives within the north walls though they have been remodelled and enlarged. The first rector, Sir Thomas de Wylelonde, was recorded in 1276. The south aisle was added c.1420, after the chancel, and its original ceiling survives. The west tower was added in the late C15th/early C16th.

The chancel was rebuilt in 1850 by Thorold, a vicar of the time, and a south vestry demolished. The nave roof was subsequently renewed in 1864/7 and the pews replaced. A general restoration was undertaken in 1869. The tower and church were restored in 1883.

A vestry was inserted within the bell tower in 1965, and a screen to the bell tower above it added in 1977 when the ringing floor was introduced.

The QIR noted possible presence of bats.

Tall three-stage battlemented west tower with crocketed corner pinnacles and angle buttresses with west door (almost round-headed) and 3-light Perpendicular window above with hoodmould with rams horn stops. Two-light louvred openings in bell stage above.

The short nave extending beyond the tower has two, 2-light windows in the north wall with hoodmoulds with headstops. A buttress-type form at the east corner of the nave is the remains of former rood loft stairs. The lower chancel is almost as long as the nave. It has a two-light and single square headed light in the north wall, and a blocked doorway between the two. The east elevation is pierced by a 3-light perpendicular window, and the gable above is surmounted by a stone cross. C18th and C19th slate tomb stones are fixed to the east and south walls. The south wall has two large 3-light windows (a faded sundial in the stonework between them – not seen), with a priest’s door-way between them, and another similar window in the east wall. There is also a 2-light window in the west elevation of the south aisle.

The gabled south porch, a later addition restored in 1869, has a barrel vault and wooden benches either side. Double gates cross the outer archway. C15th inner doorway and door.

Access from the porch (up one step) opens into the south aisle (up one step). The first 3-bays of the south aisle open into the nave, with a 4th bay separating a chapel at the east end of the aisle, complete with altar, from the chancel. To the south of the altar is a small octagonal piscina built into the wall, and a priest’s door dropped by 2 steps. To the west of the entrance is the organ and font. The aisle is ceiled by a C15th plastered wagon vault with carved bosses.

The nave was reroofed in the C19th and has a wagon roof with applied ribs and bosses – also in the chancel. At the west end an area in the north-west corner is raised and is inlaid with ledger stones. Across the tower arch in the west wall is a carved screen, probably part of an early chancel screen, which partitions the base of the tower and conceals the vestry which is raised by 2 steps. There are another two steps up to the west door (rarely used) and a small door in the north-west corner leading to an internal spiral staircase. A crude glass and chipwood insertion above the carved screen encloses the ringing chamber inserted above in the late 1970s.

The nave arcade is formed of columns described as Pevsner type B – it has attached shafts and capitals to the main piers. The nave is lit by electrified Victorian glass and iron lamps. Electric heaters are also suspended alongside them. There are 3 stained glass windows, with the remainder of clear diamond leaded panes. A tiled floor runs along the central aisle with raised oak boarded pew platforms with fixed oak pews to either side. An alcove in the north wall is contained behind a metal gate (designed by Herbert Dyer, architect, 1974) and is the remains of the former rood loft stair, and latterly where the pyx was kept.

Through the wide chancel arch, the choir is raised by a step (ramp in place) with stalls on either side. The easternmost bay of the arcade, in the chancel, is broader, and is double in form with a cusped headed squint in the central section in the masonry creating a view into the aisle, down 1 step. The chancel has a blocked north door and single north and south chancel lights. The sanctuary is raised by two steps.