Spreyton Church
by Gordon
B. Robinson 24th December, 2002
Seeds of Christianity came to England in 586 AD
with Saint
Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, yet pagan worship
in Spreyton would have continued without
interruption until
foundation of the Priory of Cowick outside Exeter at Alphington,
an outpost of the Abbey of Le Bec
in Normandy, which, during
my time as churchwarden was approached for the possibility of
establishing a connection, but they never replied.
Inscription on timbers of
the Church chancel roof written in
latin at
time of the first priest, Henry le Mayne, makes it
clear that building was financed jointly in
1451 by Robert of
Rouen de Bedenne,
Prior of Cowick, and Richard Talbot, Armiger
(Esquire), Lord of Spreyton, in the reign of Henry VI, 1422-
1461.
Evidence of
slow conversion to Christianity in Spreyton is seen
from the triple rabbit motif carved on a
wooden boss over the
chancel; this has a double meaning. First, it signifies
connection with the tin trade, the 'tinner's
rabbit' denoting
wealth from which the church was built, and second, a fertility
symbol, token of the 'old religion* which slipped
into the Church
unobtrusively to give respectability to the Trinity.
Further
evidence of pagan history is the now dead and
hollow oak
alongside the path; sole reminder of a once
fine avenue leading
to a once pagan place of worship. The village Fayre with its
associated activities, main fund raiser for
the Church, is held
on a date nearest to the summer solstice,
another reminder of
pagan ancestry.
The granite altar found hidden as part of the church porch,
and restored to its proper place in 1928, is particularly
interesting. In all probability it
had been there since
the porch was first built, Its former
pagan use may be
conjectured from a depression in its leading edge where
sacrifices were butchered with the
priest's hatchet. A shallow
square recess in the centre,
is now covered with a dated wooden
plaque. When
the altar was consecrated for Christian use,
the ashes of some saint would have been placed in the recess
and covered with a plate decorated with fleur de lys motifes,
according to the late Canon Fergusson Davie, formerly of Creedy
Park Crediton, who was Rural Dean
during my term of office.
Weight of the altar caused subsidence, and the entire chancel
required strengthening about the same time. Amongst rubble
underneath were some bones which I sent to Bristol for
identification, and was disappointed
to find they were only
from sheep. There was also the end of an
ancient glass bottle
of early 18th century manufacture. The mystery deepened.
When we came to Spreyton in
1947, there was a resident parson
who (shortly retired. The vicarage was sold
for £1000 and the
benefice placed under suspension. Bishop Mortimer wanted to
amalgamate the parish with Bow but for
obscure historical reasons
this was resisted by both parishes, A compromise
was eventually
reached with
Drewsteignton, and Spreyton moved from the
Cadbury to the
Okehampton Deanery.
