Church of St James and St Anne

St James’ and St Anne’s Church stands in the quiet village of Alfington, a short walk from Ottery St Mary in Devon. Built in 1849, it is a modest brick church in the Early English style with a plain rendered finish. The roof is covered with local clay tiles, and a small bell turret rises above the nave. Roughly 200 people can be seated inside, arranged around a simple nave and chancel. A south-west porch and vestry sit at the church’s edges, while a lychgate marks the entrance to the grounds. The church owes its existence to Sir John Taylor Coleridge, who paid for its construction. William Butterfield, already restoring Ottery St Mary’s parish church, designed the building. In 1876 a burial ground was added, and a vestry followed in 1882. That same year Alfington became a separate parish, and Coleridge’s son handed the church to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The Bishop of Exeter consecrated the church on 29 September 1882 with the Bishop of Ely assisting. Inside, the church holds an octagonal font carved from Devonshire marble. Several memorials to the Coleridge family line the walls, and the east window was designed by Augustus Pugin and installed in 1852 by Hardman & Co. The interior is plain yet dignified, with light falling through clear glass. Outside, the lychgate dated 1897 frames the path leading to the modest porch.