St Peter
Rood Screen – Photograph (PWDRO 116/35 & 244/5) F. Bligh Bond architect; 1899 and1915
The magnificent rood screen, based on the original medieval one and containing small fragments of it, is unusual in that the recreation devised by Revd Sabine Baring-Gould is complete with full loft, tabernacle-work and brattishing. It was installed in two stages: the nave portion in 1899 and the north aisle section in 1915. The work was supervised by the architect Frederick Bligh Bond, a cousin of Baring-Gould, and the woodcarving was carried out by ‘the Misses Pinwell [sic] of Plymouth and Ermington’ (Dickinson, undated, p. 8). Part of the screen was put on display for a few days in March 1899 by Harris and Sons at their gallery in George Street, Plymouth (Western Morning News, 1899). A report on the exhibition stated that the carving ‘has to the minutest detail been most skilfully and artistically executed, and as an illustration of the progress made in modern wood carving is well worth a visit by those who are interested in ecclesiastical art’ (Ibid. p. 5). The work appears in a list of notable modern screens in Devon (Slader, 1968).
Pulpit – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); 1900
The beautifully carved and highly ornate pulpit was the gift of H.M. Sperling of Combe Trenchard. It was based on the fifteenth-century pulpit at Kenton, which was reconstructed by Bligh Bond with pieces salvaged by Baring-Gould. The pulpit was placed on display in June 1900 at an exhibition of wood carving, antique and modern, at the Royal Hotel in Plymouth (Western Morning News, 1900). The work appears in a list of notable modern pulpits in Devon (Slader, 1968).
Parclose Screen – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); 1903
Bench Ends (4) – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); date unknown but 1899-1915
These bench ends are situated in the north chapel and are reproductions of adjacent sixteenth-century ones.
Pier Casing and Saints – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); after 1909
It can be assumed that this piece of bold and accomplished carving was completed within the same time frame as the two sections of the screen, although it is photographed separately in the PWDRO archive. The figures represent St Petrock, St Peter and St Michael the Archangel.
Sources
Dickinson, B. H. C. (undated) The Parish Church, St. Peter, Lew Trenchard & The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould.
PWDRO 116/35 Photograph. Lew Trenchard. Chancel Screen.
PWDRO 244/5 Photograph Album. Various. Woodcarvings.
Slader, J. M. (1968) The Churches of Devon. David & Charles, Newton Abbot.
Western Morning News (1899) Ecclesiastical Art Work at Plymouth. 4 March p. 5.
Western Morning News (1900) Wood-Carving at Plymouth. 6 June p. 4.