West Ogwell Church

West Ogwell Church stands in the quiet village of Ogwell in Devon. Built in the 13th century, it is a Grade I listed building now looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust. The church became redundant in 1981 and passed into the Trust’s care the following year. Its chancel and nave date from around 1300, while the two-stage west tower with its battlemented parapet was added about a century later. The building has witnessed centuries of change while remaining rooted in its Devon landscape. The church is worth the journey for its well-preserved medieval and later features. Inside, a 13th-century sedilia and a Jacobean pulpit survive from the early years. Late Georgian box pews, a tower screen and curved communion rails show how the interior was reorganised in the 18th century. The church has also played a small part in popular culture, appearing in a 1981 episode of the BBC’s West Country Tales and in the 2013 horror film The Borderlands. Visitors find a calm interior of stone and wood. The sedilia and pulpit stand close to the chancel arch, while the box pews line the nave in orderly rows. The tower screen divides the west end from the body of the church, and the communion rails curve gently near the altar. Outside, the battlemented parapet of the tower rises above the Devon countryside, marking the church as a quiet witness to history.