St Mary's Church, Ottery St Mary

St Mary’s Church stands in the heart of Ottery St Mary, a town in Devon. It is a Grade I listed parish church of the Church of England, part of a local group called Churches Together in Ottery St Mary. The building follows a cruciform plan like Exeter Cathedral, with tower-transepts and a long chancel. Nikolaus Pevsner once described it as lying low like a tired beast. The church was consecrated in 1260, when its patronage belonged to Rouen Cathedral. Later, Bishop Grandisson rebuilt much of it around 1330, adding the nave, Lady Chapel and chantry chapels. The church is worth visiting for its medieval features and later restorations. Its painted roof and early sixteenth-century fan-vaulted aisle, the Dorset Aisle, were commissioned by Cecily Bonville. Ten misericords survive from 1350, five bearing the arms of Bishop John de Grandisson. There are also two medieval Green Man sculptures and tombs of Otho de Grandisson and his wife. In 1908 new choir stalls were installed, designed by John Duke Coleridge. The astronomical clock in the south transept dates from the 14th century and was restored in 1907. Inside, visitors find an open nave with encaustic-tiled paving and stripped walls from Butterfield’s 1849 restoration. The altar screen was completed in 1934 with Beer stone carvings by Herbert Read. A plaque in the south transept commemorates Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who is buried nearby. The churchyard also holds the grave of Sir Ernest Mason Satow, with a memorial inside from Peking. The organ has evolved through centuries of rebuilds, and the building remains a working parish church alongside its historic role.