MSO12041 - All Saints Church, Selworthy (Building)

The church of St John Baptist or All Saints. The greater part is Perpendicular and the south aisle, the latest part of the building, is dated 1527. The north aisle is c1390. The font-bowl is Saxon and the tower was evidently part of an earlier church. [1] Except for the lower parts of the west tower, which seems to be 14th Century, this is a Perpendicular church. [2] In normal use. [3] A roll of honour in an oak frame and decorated with an illuminated tree of life in the centre, names 46 parishioners who served in World War One and 48 who served in World War Two, with 8 people who also died in each of the conflicts. A white marble tablet on a black marble backboard commemorates the 8 parishioners who died in World War One. The tablet is ornamented with a gilt wreath and cross on a blue background. A rectangular marble tablet commemorates 8 parishioners who died in World War Two. A plaque in an oak frame commemorates Calverley Hancock, second son of the Reverend Frederick Hancock of Selworthy, who was killed in Bethlehem, South Africa during the Boer War in 1900. [6] The building was visited in May 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [9] The north aisle of the church was built by the Arundells in the 17th Century. The Steynings (for some time owners of the Manor) probably built the south aisle in the early 16th Century as there is a date of 1538 high up in the west end. There are good 16th and 17th Century brasses to various members of this family on the wall. The Parish Church of All Saints dates from the 14th century, although much is Perpendicular. An 1875 restoration, less drastic than most of the period, revealed wall paintings, much eroded. The church is built of roughcast over rubble with Ham Hill stone dressings. The ceiled wagon roof to the nave has ornate carved bosses, and that to the south chancel is especially fine with moulded ribs and a wall plate frieze. The wagon-roof in the chancel and north aisle is 19th Century. A local woodworking class carved the bosses in the latter. There is some good 17th and 18th century fittings, including a pulpit of re-set medieval panelling with sounding board and hourglass. The oak panelled gallery was added c.1750, and the Squire’s pew with canopied gallery over the doorway was erected in 1804. There are some fragments of medieval glass in the east window of the north aisle. The listing details refer to this church as “one of the finest in the county” and Pevsner in “The Buildings of England”, refers to the south chancel as its “great glory” and “unsurpassed in the county”. It is also the resting place of Francis Eeles who was founder and first secretary of the Council for the Care of Churches. [10] The building is labelled "Church" on 2020 MasterMap data. [11]