St Peter

Rood Screen – Photograph (PWDRO 116/35 & 244/5) F. Bligh Bond architect; 1899-1915

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. The work was supervised by the architect Frederick Bligh Bond, a cousin of Baring-Gould, and the woodcarving was carried out between 1899 and 1915 by ‘the Misses Pinwell of Plymouth and Ermington’ (Dickinson, undated, p. 8). A section 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).

Lew Trenchard Pillar Casing
Pillar Casing at Lew Trenchard with St Petrock, St Peter, and St Michael

Pillar Casing and Saints – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); 1899-1915

It must be assumed that this piece of bold and accomplished carving was completed within the same time frame as the screen, although it is photographed separately in the PWDRO archive. The figures represent St Petrock, St Peter and St Michael the Archangel.

Parclose Screen – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); probably 1899-1915

Bench Ends (4) – Photograph (PWDRO 244/5); probably 1899-1915

These bench ends are situated in the north chapel and are reproductions of adjacent sixteenth-century ones.

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).

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.