St Nectan's Church, Hartland

St Nectan’s Church stands in the hamlet of Stoke, about two and a half kilometres west of Hartland on Devon’s north coast. Built on the site of an earlier collegiate church founded around 1050 by Gytha, Countess of Wessex, the present church dates from about 1360. Its tall tower, rising in four stages to nearly forty metres, has long guided sailors at sea. A peal of six bells cast nearby hangs in the tower, last rehung in 1952 and weighing close to three tonnes. The church is dedicated to Saint Nectan, a Celtic hermit of the fifth and sixth centuries whose reputed hermitage lies beside a well one hundred metres away. The church contains the finest rood screen in North Devon, a massive timber structure eleven bays long installed in 1450. On the screen once stood the organ and seating, while below lies a Norman font thought to date from 1170. The wagon roofs survive from earlier centuries, and monuments include a medieval tomb-chest and a brass of 1610. Five windows by Caroline Townshend and Joan Howson illustrate the parish’s history, while other glass is by Christopher Webb and Alfred Beer. The plain 16th-century pews fill the nave, and the graveyard holds the grave of Mary Norton, author of The Borrowers. Visitors find a spacious church with high arcades and clear glass that lets in steady north-light. The tower arch stands open, its former musicians’ gallery now removed. Outside, the graveyard slopes gently down to farmland and distant sea views. A well by the lane marks the spot where Saint Nectan once lived alone. The building feels both ancient and cared-for, its plain fittings and strong stonework speaking of centuries of quiet worship.