Revd. G.D. Melhuish - Notes on the History of Ashwater Parish and Church

The Church to 1300.

Now comes the question. Was there a building for Public worship in the days before the Conquest?

It seems probable, but most likely it was of a rough and ready sort —just cob walls and a thatched roof, very likely standing where our Church now stands and with the burying ground around it. When the Normans came they built many Churches, and many parishes in this district have Norman doorways or windows or Fonts still remaining. There are some old carved stones preserved in the Church at Ashwater which had been built into the walls at some long ago restoration and saw light again in the present century. Of these old stones some appear to be portions of a Norman building, narrow round headed windows amongst others,—and there is the doorway by the font which seems to be of that time—on the other hand the Font itself is of early 13th century work and the bulk of the fabric was built then, so, if there was a Norman Church put up, say, at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century, it was probably very small and lasted only some 100 or 150 years when the larger Church was planned and built.

We cannot be sure about all this, but of the following we can be sure—Those Registers of the Bishops of Exeter which are still in existence, begin in 1257. No mention is made in them of the Consecration of a Church in Ashwater, so our Church must have been Consecrated before that date The first mention of Ashwater in the Bishops’ Registers is in 1270 when William de Esse was “collated” as Rector by the Bishop The patron of that time was Walter of Dunhevede. He had not presented anyone to the Rectory so the right of appointmcnt had lapsed to Bishop Bronscombe.

So the early 13th Century saw the main work of the building of Ashwater Church — The Tower, Nave, Aisle and Chancel. The Chancel was shorter, as it was added to by Mr Feild at the end of the 19th Century. The aisle was shorter. There were no granite pillars. In this district you never find granite in the early times; the fine granite towers, such as Tamerton and Bridgerule are much later, so are all the granite arcades which we admire in neighbouring parishes, for granite was hard to work and heavy to haul for long distances over the moors and bogs. The stone used was the local free stone from Cookworthy Moor or Muckworthy, of which the older Norman window heads also had been fashioned in the Norman building which we suppose was either pulled down or incorporated with the new building by the 13th century architect. The octagonal pillars were built, but were about 2 ft. 6 ins. lower than they are now. The old Church floor was apparently 8 inches lower than the present level, judging from the floor by the Carnimow Monument, so the pillars have been pushed up that much to start with, and have been placed on square blocks of masonry 1 ft.10 ins. in addition, to make them match the height of the later granite pillars ; all of which happened in 1677 and will be recorded later on, but you can see, when you look, exactly how much is the old pillar and how much is blocking up masonry. With the Capitals of the Pillars 2 ft. 6ins. lower, the arches of the arcade must have been that much higher and the whole effect must have been much more dignified than that produced by the present depressed arches with their mixed up plan of alternate granite and free stone. The Nave roof is perhaps the finest feature of the Church. Not many waggon roofs have such a span. The Font too is a splendid one and few can compare with its massive shapeliness. Some people with large ideas (we should like to know who) must have been at the head of things in the 13th century or we should not have had so spacious a Nave, so fine a roof or such a noble Font.

Before leaving the 12th century Church building, we may note that none of the windows of that date remain except the one on the North side of the Chancel behind the Choir stalls, and the Louvre windows of the Tower. Some remains of the 13th century doorway were found in the wall near the present big South doorway. These stones of the old doorway were built into the wall at some previous Restoration when the granite doorway was placed there, and we found them where we had to rebuild the wall in 1901. Some of these stones as well as some early window heads, &c. are preserved in the Church to bear their witness to the history of the building.