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© Nick Shepherd www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
St Petrox
St Petrox
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© Nick Shepherd www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
inside Saint Saviours 1
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© Nick Shepherd www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
Inside Saint Saviours 2
Inside Saint Saviours
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© Nick Shepherd www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
Saint Saviours from Foss Street
Saint Saviours from Foss Street
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© Nick Shepherd www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
St Petrox
St Petrox
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© Nick Shepherd www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
Saint Petrox from the river
Saint Petrox from the river
Exploring the Familiar
As we approach Dartmouth by sea we experience the wonderful sight of the “twin towers” and their flapping red and white flags. The castle proudly flying the English Heritage flag and Saint Petrox church the flag of Saint George. It may prompt you to ask a question such as which was built first or why are they situated together? However, a few seconds later you are admiring the wonderful view of the town and your original thoughts are lost.
Similarly you may be standing at the boat float mesmerised by the reflections of the dinghies and the bustling activity outside the shops. For a split second you notice a church tower peering in the distance over the Victorian buildings. You note the time on the wonderful clock face and quickly move on forgetting (or not even knowing) about the magnificent wooden carvings inside. Saint Saviours becomes erased from your mind.
Returning to Saint Petrox, it is clear that there was a chapel or church on the river mouth long before Dartmouth Castle was built. The whole coast during medieval times was fringed with chapels, some of which were used for a few years and others for centuries. A title deed refers to a monastery at this site in 1192 and so we can be certain that there was a religious building here by the end of the 12th century. Being built on an isolated promontory overlooking the entrance to the harbour; it might have incorporated a beacon light for seamen.
The church is dedicated to Saint Petroc, a Welsh prince who became a Christian missionary in the 6th century. In 1388 the chapel was surrounded by walls and towers erected by the merchants of Dartmouth to protect their harbour. When matters became more peaceful and prosperous in the 17th century, the merchant’s descendants decided to rebuild the chapel as a much larger three-aisled church with an impressive tower. This is the building which we see today.
When considering our Parish churches, it is worth remembering that the Mother church is Saint Clement’s which stands at Townstal some 350 feet above the main town. This was a natural location for the principal church as during Saxon times the people of Dartmouth lived at the top of the hill. During the 12th and 13th centuries, however, Dartmouth developed as a port of national importance and as a consequence people moved down to the riverside to live, build ships, trade with Europe and take part in the King’s foreign campaigns. The tiring climb up to Saint Clement’s on the narrow unpaved lanes in all weathers stirred the townsmen, now organised into a group of burgesses, to demand that church should be built where they lived. Hence permission to build a “river” church was granted in 1286 by Edward 1st and the church was eventually consecrated in 1372 in honour of the Holy trinity. It became known as Saint Saviours in 1430.
The oldest part of Saint Saviours is the built “Mayor’s Chapel” being the western part of the nave. The South Door is one of the church’s greatest treasures with its splendid medieval ironwork. The beautiful screen is made of oak and was built in 1480. It is decorated with vine leaves, grapes and wheat; all being symbols of the Church and of the Eucharist. There is also a carving of the “Green Man”, a pagan symbol adopted by the church 1000 years ago. The pulpit is made of stone and is a fine piece of workmanship. Other notable features include the magnificent 1889 Bryceson organ, an altar which dates from James 1st and a font of Purbeck stone dating from the 13th or 14th century.
Within the churches, and particularly in Saint Clement’s church, there are numerous memorials of people with historically relevant surnames. These include Seale, the Hollond family and the Roopes of Mount Boone. The memorial to a Robert Hollond always makes me smile:
“Here lyeth buried the bodie of Robert Hollond
Who departed this life the 16 of November 1611 beinge
Of the age of 54 yeares 5 monthes and odd days
Here lyes a breathless body, and doth showe
What man is, when God clames, what man doth owe.
His soul a guest, his body but a trouble
His tyme an instant, and his breath a bubble.
Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly.”
Little pleasures such as these are in abundance in our local churches. A twenty minute visit will refresh your mind and spirit and hopefully will provide you with impetus to explore the familiar much further.
First Published September 2008 By The Dart