Church of Holy Cross

Holy Cross Church stands in Newton Ferrers, a village beside the River Yealm in Devon. The present building dates from the 13th century, though earlier churches occupied the site from at least 1084. A major rebuilding in the 1880s gave the church its current form while preserving parts of the medieval structure. It has been protected as a Grade I listed building since 1960. The church’s history reflects the Ferrers family’s influence and later Victorian restoration. The church is worth the journey for its layered past and the craftsmen who shaped it. The 1885–86 restoration was led by George Fellowes Prynne and supervised by his father, the Rev. George Rundle Prynne. Local builders Stevenson and Son carried out the work under clerk of the works F. M. Rowse. Harry Hems of Exeter made the font, pulpit and other fittings, and carved the bosses in the oak wagon roof. The Bishop of Exeter reopened the church in 1886, and the chancel windows span the 13th to 15th centuries. Inside, the nave is flanked by north and south aisles leading to the chancel. The west tower and arcades remain from the medieval church, while the 1880s windows follow the Perpendicular style. The chancel holds a 15th-century south window and a 13th-century north window, along with a double piscina and triple sedilia from the 13th or 14th century. The churchyard was enlarged in 1884 as a memorial to the rector’s late wife, and the new ground was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter.