St Michael's Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church in

Colyford Colyford is a village and civil parish in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated midway between Lyme Regis and Sidmouth on the A3052 road. To the north the village borders the town Colyton. To the south is t ...

, Devon, England. Built in 1888–89, St Michael's has been

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

since 1984. Today it forms one of five churches of the Colyton Parish and Holyford Mission Community.

History

St Michael's was erected in 1888–89 at the expense of Mrs. J. L. Scarborough and her son Mr. Elijah Impey Scarborough "to the glory of God and in memory of Admiral Impey", Mrs. Scarborough's father. It was designed by Mr. R. M. Fulford and built by Messrs Luscombe and Son of Exeter. Although a private chapel, it was used as a chapel of ease for the residents of Colyford and was declared open by the Bishop of Exeter, Edward Bickersteth, during a ceremony on 17 January 1889.The Devon and Exeter Daily Gazette – Church opening at Colyford – 18 January 1889 – page 5 The church was later handed over to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by Mr. Scarborough for the benefit of the village.The Devon and Exeter Gazette – The Bishop of Crediton at Colyford: Consecration of a church – 18 March 1903 – page 3 It was consecrated on 17 March 1903 by the

Bishop of Crediton The Bishop of Crediton is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Crediton in Devon, England. The title was originally used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 10th and 11th centuries for a diocese covering Devon and Cornwall. It is no ...

, Robert Trefusis, in place of the

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

who was unable to attend due to ill health. St Michael's continues to hold Sunday services on a weekly basis and is also used for social events. In January 2015, the church's 125th anniversary was celebrated with a Songs of Praise service.

Architecture

St Michael's was built in an

Arts and Crafts style The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

using local flint rubble, with quoins, bands, windows and copings of Beer limestone, and the internal use of buff and red brick. The roof was built using tiles from

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

and pitch pine on the inside. A bellcote was added to the west gable and contains corbels, gablets and a spirelet. The church, made up of a nave, chancel, south transept, south-west porch and north vestry, was built to accommodate 200 persons on open benches of pine. Three stained glass windows at the east end of the church were designed by Mr. F. Drake of Exeter. The font is made from carved Beer stone with a

Hamstone Hamstone is a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material which weather dif ...

base. Following the death of Mrs. Scarborough, her son had oak reredos added to the church in 1892 in her memory. In 1895, friends of the Scarborough family commissioned Mr. F. Drake to design and install a stained glass window for the church, commemorating "the return of Mr and Mrs E. J. Scarborough and family to their native home after a sojourn of three years in California".The Western Times – About the churches – 17 September 1895 – page 3

References

External links

Holyford Mission Community website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's Church, Colyford

Grade II listed churches in Devon Churches completed in 1889 Arts and Crafts architecture in England Christian organizations established in 1889 1889 establishments in England