In Saxon times, the Bere Peninsula was known as Birlanda and over the years, the parish has changed its name many times. The parish church of St Andrew is beautifully situated on the bank of the river Tavy in Bere Ferrers. During restoration work in the 1980s, excavators found a stone from the original Saxon church.
With the Norman Conquest came the de Ferrers family, originally known as Ferrieres, and their descendants settled all over England. The Devon branch lived in the Bere Barton manor at Bere Ferrers and a Norman church was built. All that is left of that church now is a remarkable font made of Hurdwick stone from Tavistock. It is of a lead lined, ornately carved ‘girdle tub’ style and big enough to allow full immersions.
In the mid-13th century, Sir William de Ferrers built the parish church and founded an Arch Presbytery presided over by an Arch Priest. The Arch Priest’s duty, and that of his priests and choir boys, was to pray for the souls of Sir William and his wife Isolde any time, day or night, for eternity. The clergy lived in the Presbytery across the road from the church, a site which in modern times became the Lanterna Hotel. It is said that a tunnel runs from the church to the Lanterna – we don’t know if there have been any sightings of clergymen engaged in nocturnal walkabouts! The Presbytery was dissolved by Henry VIII, but the present Rector of St Andrews retains the title of Arch Priest, but with few of the privileges of his predecessor.
The 14th century saw extensions to the church courtesy of Sir William II, the most beautiful being the stained glass east window. It depicts Sir William, his wife Matilda and Christ in majesty and is the oldest stained glass window of any parish church in the county. The window has been removed and replaced several times over the centuries, but it still inspires awe when seen from the back of the Nave on a sunny morning.
An unfortunate accident happened concerning this window in 1821. Charles Stothard, a painter was commissioned to make sketches of the window and one of the rungs on his ladder broke and he fell to his death, striking his head on the tomb of the first Sir William de Ferrers and his wife Isolde. A brass plate marks the spot and his body is buried in the churchyard against the east wall.
The north transept with its 14th century carved arch is full of carved memorials and tombs. The effigy of Sir Reginald is here in full armour and a stone commemorating Roger Champernown who married into the de Ferrers family. The east window shows a pilgrim who is thought to be William II; his wife Matilda may have commissioned the window as a memorial to her husband. A high, marble table-top tomb supposed to be that of Roger, 2nd Baron de Broke who died ‘of a pestilence’ in 1522 at his manor, also occupies the north transept.
Ten New Zealand soldiers were killed at Bere Ferrers railway station in 1917. They believed they had arrived at Exeter station and, stepping down on to the track, they were killed by an express train travelling in the opposite direction. A memorial plaque is mounted on the north wall of the Chancel, together with the New Zealand flag. The Bere Peninsula has seen its fair share of tragedy as the War Memorials in Bere Ferrers and Bere Alston testify.
Another ‘pestilence’ broke out in 1849 – cholera. St Andrew’s churchyard contains a few headstones inscribed ‘cholera’ and the grassy banks alongside the path are quite high; indicating mass burials beneath.
Whilst St Andrew is the parish church of the peninsula, Holy Trinity is the daughter church in Bere Alston. It was built in 1848 replacing a ‘chapel of ease’ dating back to 1350. This chapel served many functions over the years; as a poorhouse, a coal store and a hospital during the cholera epidemic. Holy Trinity wasn’t consecrated until 1871. There is some speculation about why there was such a delay, but one theory is that the Bishop of Exeter refused to consecrate the church because he had heard that the community engaged in ‘hot-bedding’. Possibly someone eventually explained to him that ‘hot-bedding’ was the miners’ practice of using the same bed as their previous shift workers, not an indication that the village was a den of iniquity!
The 1800s saw a proliferation of chapels on the peninsula, the first of which was the Independent Chapel built in Bere Alston in 1811. All of them changed their names and uses over time; the sole survivor is the United Reformed Church, where the charismatic, evangelical style of worship continues.
In fact, the Church is alive and well and living on the Bere Peninsula. The community spirit that was so instrumental in restoring St Andrew’s church in the 1980s is thriving and the Rev. Nick Law is confident that his parish will continue to flourish.
Lizzie Spiers