There is historical evidence of the existence of a church in Upton Pyne in 1264, but its exact whereabouts is uncertain.

The present church was consecrated on 26th September 1328 by Bishop Grandisson, the last of the great bishops responsible for the rebuilding of Exeter Cathedral. The episcopal register states that the church had three altars. Due to the reluctance or inability of the parish to pay the bishop's fee the church was placed under an interdict, which was not lifted till 3 1 January of the following year. The church has undergone extensive alteration and restoration in the 15th and 19th centuries.


External Features

The church is built chiefly of a local volcanic rock (trap) and other stone. Outside the porch, which was rebuilt in 1874, is a "preaching cross" (with the cross member missing) dating from the 15th century.

The most striking feature of the tower, built about 1380, which stands at the west end of the church, is the statuary on its exterior. In a canopied niche on the demi-octagonal stair turret is a figure of King David, crowned and bearing a staff with a lamb at his feet. Over the west door is a figure of Christ in Benediction. The niche on the east side of the tower below the clock is empty, and may have contained a figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the church is dedicated.

Above the diagonal buttresses on the corners of the tower are niches of Beer stone containing figures of the four evangelists. The figure of St. Matthew with an angel at his feet at the south-west angle is headless: St. John, with an eagle, is at the north-west angle: St. Mark, with a lion, at the north-east angle: St. Luke, with a calf, at the south-east angle. New pinnacles were erected in 1875. The finely carved heads at the ends of the "dripstones" of the south aisle are noteworthy.

A "priest's door" on the south side of the church leads into the chancel.


Interior

The chancel arch and the piscina and drain in the south wall of the chancel date from the original church. Under the window adjacent to the piscina is a small wooden sedilia with linen-fold carving given by the Revd A. F. Northcote.

The carved wooden reredos was presented to the church by the first Countess of Iddesleigh in 1887 as a memorial to her husband Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, created Earl of Iddesleigh in 1885. The central feature of the reredos is a painting of the Last Supper by an unknown artist, brought from Italy about 1710 by Hugh Stafford Esq. of Pynes and presented to the church. It originally stood in a gilt frame on the communion table till incorporated in the reredos.

The south aisle, which was added about 1400, has elaborately moulded pillars with wreathed capitals of Beer stone. Both arches and pillars are enriched with floral carvings, and engraved on the eastern and western capitals are angels holding shields with charges (armorial bearings) of the Larder and Pyne families, no doubt originally painted. The Pyne charge is easily recognised by the chevron and three pine cones.

In the wall of the south aisle are two raised and canopied tombs of the 16th century. The easternmost is surmounted by the recumbent figure of a young man in armour with his sword beside him, a dog at his feet, and his head resting on his helmet. Above the tomb a damaged inscription reads ORATE PRO AlA EDMNDI LARDER AR(MIGER) - (pray for the soul of Edmund Larder Esquire.) Below are four shields, no doubt originally painted, bearing the Larder coat of arms (three piles in chief), some impaling other family charges. Edmund was the son of William Larder who married Constance, daughter and heiress of Nicholas Pyne. He died in 1521. The Pyne family had been lords of the manor since the reign of Henry I.

The smaller canopied tomb is of Humphrey Larder, grandson of Edmund. There is no recumbent figure, but in its place a very defaced stone slab which reads "HUMFRIDUS LARDER ARMIGER OBIT XXIII APRILIS ET MARGARETA UXOR EJUS OCTAVO DECEMBRIS 1604". (Humphrey Larder Esquire died 23rd April 1588, and Margaret his wife on the 8th December 1604). Below are five shields, now blank, but which no doubt, like those on the pillars, were originally painted with armorial bearings. The Larder family were patrons of the living.

Pevsner suggests that the south-east bay was a chantry chapel. A marble slab beneath a representation in glazed tiles of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico, states that an ancient altar stood on this site, and there is a piscina in the south wall adjacent to it. The westernmost window in the south aisle contains fragments of 17th century Flemish glass, one of which reads "Lysbet Van der Muelen Hans dochter", and the date 1630. The window is a memorial to the first Countess of Iddesleigh, and the central panel contains
the Northcote coat of arms. Hymphrey Larder had no male issue but the manor was retained by his grand-daughter, and after five descents it came by marriage to the Copplestone family, and Hugh Stafford purchased the manor from John Copplestone. His eldest daughter, Bridget, married Sir Henry Northcote, Bart. who in 1797 became patron of the living.

Over the vestry at the west end of the church is the west gallery or ringing chamber, separated from the nave by an 18th century balustrade made from the original communion rails, and a glazed screen erected as a memorial to the late Revd Douglas Maule-Johnstone (rector 1964-71). It contains a tablet commemorating a charitable bequest by Nicholas Williams, manganese merchant, a reminder of the manganese mine close to the church, sometimes known as the black pit, which was active from 1788-1823.

Above the ringing chamber is another chamber and above this is the belfrey in which are hung six bells, five cast by Thomas Bilbie of Cullompton in 1755, increased to six in 1881 by a Treble cast by Taylor of
Loughborough, the gift of the Revd J. Stafford Northcote and the Upton Pyne Ringing Society.

Extensive rebuilding and restoration took place in the 19th century. The north aisle was added in 1833 and extended by the addition of an organ aisle in 1874. The awkward looking arch linking the east pillar of the south aisle to the chancel pier dates from this period. The organ, installed in 1896, is a memorial to Noah England, village schoolmaster for 40 years.

The roof was renewed, the old box pews removed, the church refloored and the lectern and pulpit installed. The latter was constructed from a log of black oak found beside the Exe at Pynes. An unsightly board, in the place originally occupied by a rood screen above the chancel arch, in the form of a Royal coat of arms flanked by the Ten Commandments was taken down. The porch and lych-gate, the latter a gift from Lady Northcote, were rebuilt about the same time.

Rectors
Among the list of rectors may be noted five members of the Northcote family, and the name of the Revd John Walker (rector 1714-20) formerly rector of St. Mary Major in Exeter, and a canon of Exeter Cathedral.

He was the author of "The Sufferings of the Clergy" published in 1714, in which he enumerated the humiliation to which the clergy and collegiate bodies had been subjected during "The Great Rebellion", i.e. the period of religious oppression during the Long Parliament in the latter years of the reign of Charles I and the Commonwealth. It is still a valuable work of reference to students of church history, and in recognition of this work he was granted a diploma of Doctor of Divinity. His grave is in the organ aisle.

In the north wall of the chancel is a memorial plaque to James Gay, Rector of the parish (1702-1720) and uncle of John Gay composer of the Beggar's Opera. The tombstone of his son (also James) who died in 1702 at the age of five is under the altar.

Memorials to the Pyne and Northcote families can be seen throughout the church. The Northcote family made numerous gifts to the church and substantial contributions towards the rebuilding in 1874/75. A large stained glass window in the north aisle, a memorial to Sir Stafford Northcote, Bart., was designed by Pugin.

The writer is greatly indebted to Dr C. A. Ralegh Radford, F.B.A.,

D.Litt., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S., and the Dowager Countess of Iddesleigh for their help and advice.

• P. M. G. Russell.