St Mary’s Church
St Mary’s is the mother church of Bideford and has been on this site since at least the 13th century. The reasons for it being here are probably that it is close to the heart of the town and close to the foot of a steep hillside where, due to the downward creep, there was a fair depth of soil – a necessity for a graveyard.
The oldest part of the church is the tower which days from around 1260. The rest of the church looks old but in fact it is quite modern having been rebuilt and enlarged between 1862 and 1865. This was at a time when church and chapel congregations vied to have the grandest place of worship in town. This was also a period of great prosperity in Bideford so there was no shortage of wealthy church going families willing to contribute to the then mammoth rebuilding cost of £5250.The main benefactors were immortalised in the carved heads around the exterior of the church.
|
|
|
|
|
St Mary’s Graveyard
Up until the mid-eighteenth century this was the only burial ground in the town and it served all denominations. This meant that there was enormous pressure on the available space and the result was the present layout. The paths are not sunken – due to the vast number of bodies buried here over at least 600 years the ground on both sides of the paths has “risen”.
The graveyard was extended in 1803 but the extra space was soon used up and in 1841 a new graveyard was opened in Old Town and St Mary’s was finally closed in 1849.
The first Native American to come to Britain was brought to Bideford by Sir Richard Grenville and was for a short time part of his family. He was encouraged to adopt the Devonshire way of life and he gained the distinction of being the first Native American to be baptised a Christian. Sadly within a year he died of a cold.
Unfortunately in the mid-1800s, during a clean-up of the graveyard, the location of his last resting place was lost forever.
Before leaving the churchyard take a look at the magnificent yew trees some of which are over 200 years old.
Leave the churchyard by the “top gate” going into Tower Street.
Next...
This work Copyright © by Bideford 500 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
