St Michael’s church and churchyard

The Church is in an attractive churchyard and has fine views towards Dartmoor. Like many other churches dedicated to St Michael it is set on high ground (735 feet above sea level ) and it is rumoured that the top of the tower could be visible (if various obstructions were removed) from the English and Bristol channels!

There is a an impressive avenue of lime trees from the lych gate to the church door . This was planted by a former rector in 1856. The avenue includes an ancient and now dead hollow oak tree which perhaps bears witness to a more ancient avenue of trees leading to this church or to an earlier church or sacred site.

Church records note that Tom Cobley, leader of the ill-fated expedition to Widecombe, is buried here. There is no headstone for Uncle Tom but there is one (opposite the porch) for a great nephew who had the same name.

The present church is perpendicular in style and a lengthy Latin inscription on the ribs and purlins of the roof records that Henry le Mayne, Priest and a native of Normandy, caused it to be built in 1451 and wrote the words with his own hand, and that Robert of Rouen, Prior of Cowick (now in west Exeter) and Richard Talbot , Lord of Spreyton, ‘gave their goods’ for the building . The Priory of St Andrew at Cowick was a house of Benedictine monks given by William Fitz-Baldwin in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) to the Abbey of Le Bec in Normandy. William Fitz-Baldwin’s father is said to have been Lord of the Manor at both Spreyton and Cowick. The Priory was suppressed by Henry V because of its links to France but was refounded by Henry VI (1422-1461) who assigned it to the Royal College at Eton and subsequently to Tavistock Abbey.

The present church building (in particular the walls and windows) have been the subject of restoration work over the years but it is unlikely that any major part of the building was erected significantly earlier than 1451. However the two fonts, the piscina and the altar stone appear to be of earlier date and are thought to have been part of an earlier church on the site. The piscina and the altar stone (which is considered to bear evidence of early consecration for Christian use) in fact came to light in the first half of the twentieth century when they were found embedded in the masonry when parts of the south wall and porch were rebuilt.

The tower and north wall of the building are of squared granite construction. The south wall and most of the east wall are of local stone and have been repaired / rebuilt in more recent times. The church is entered by means of a heavy mediaeval wooden door complete with ancient lock. Inside the church is brightly lit from a number of clear glass windows but has two stained glass windows, an East window dating from 1889, which depicts Our Lord as the Good Shepherd with His mother on one side and St John the Evangelist on the other, and a recent window in the West wall of the tower depicting St Michael and generously donated in memory of a parishioner.

There is a fine wagon roof with interesting designs on some of the bosses – including a three rabbit / hare design and a green man. Both these designs seem to be pre-Christian in origin and may have symbolised fertility. The three hare design was at some stage linked to the idea of the Trinity and has been known as ‘The Tinners Rabbits.’ However, though there are examples of this design at Chagford and Tavistock there are other examples far removed from tin-mining areas.

The tower has a peal of six bells of which the earliest dates from the 17^th century.

The font (which may be of late Norman date) has an interesting series of seven primitive style carvings around the base depicting the Wheel of Life, Our Lady crowned , the Tree of Life, Mortality and other themes. There is another font against the wall in the north aisle and it has been suggested that this, together with the large slab of granite which forms the altar (and now rests on an oak table) and the piscina in the sanctuary, probably derive from an earlier church on the site.

A small portion of the rood screen (which was removed in 1760) is preserved at the back of the church and the stairs to the former rood loft can be seen in the north wall.

Spreyton had a resident incumbent until slightly before 1950. At that stage the vicarage was sold and the benefice placed under suspension. Proposals to amalgamate the parish, which was then in the Cadbury deanery , with Bow met with resistance from both villages and in due course Spreyton and Hittisleigh were moved into the Okehampton deanery and became linked to the parish of Drewsteignton.