Cape Town Lens: bombed but still here – Budleigh Salterton Devon

A Cape Town Rhodes Memorial tagged image from photographer – jmc4 – Church Explorer as published on Flickr.

bombed but still here – Budleigh Salterton Devon

Image by jmc4 – Church Explorer

Church of St Peter , Budleigh Salterton Devon situated just off the High Street
Part of the parish of All Saints East Budleigh until 1900 – in 1812 a chapel of ease was built at the crossroads of Chapel Hill and East Terrace and dedicated to the Holy Trinity – it was usually called the Rolle Chapel as it had been financed by the Rolle family.
By 1891 the population had risen so much that this chapel became too small and was considered unfitted to the requirements of a growing town
Once again the Rolle family stepped in; the Hon Mark Rolle offered land on “The Lawn” and agreed to pay for a church which was to be dedicated to St Peter.
It was designed by architect George Fellowes Prynne in Early English style and was built by the Exeter builders Luscombe and Sons. The original design included a tower with a spire to be erected above the Baptistry to a height of 140 feet but this was never built.
On 24th November 1891 Miss Mary Rolle laid the foundation stone. The main walls were built from limestone while the interior carvings were of Beer stone with Ashburton marble columns.. The total cost of the building was £10,000.

The church was consecrated on April 25th 1893 by the Bishop of Exeter, Edward Henry Bickerseth but it remained a chapel of ease until 1900 when it became a parish in its own right and in July 1900 Rev Rees Charles Price was instated as the first vicar.
It comprises of a nave, north and south aisles, double south transepts with apse on the east side, and south porch and is "light and airy due to the high roof and limited stained glass".

For the next 20 years the interior of St Peter’s was beautified with stained glass windows and mosaics and on 28th September 1920 a chancel screen was installed as a memorial to the dead of WW1

Sadly on 17th April 1942 a bomb, dropped from enemy aircraft, hit the north aisle. A large part of the wall and the flying buttresses were damaged and every window had been blown out. Worship continued at the Temple Methodist Church whilst rebuilding & restoration began.
On April 25th 1953, sixty years after its original dedication, Archdeacon of Exeter, the Ven. W A E Westall dedicated two new stained glass windows. One was a memorial to the fallen of WW2, www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/cc4FBL8hP6 the other a new west window to replace the one destroyed in the air raid.

The 1960’s saw the installation of pews in the nave and the recording of “Songs of Praise” transmitted by BBC television on 27th July 1969.
In April 1975 a window showing St Francis was dedicated in the south aisle n memory of Colonel and Mrs Hatchard Smith South aisle, Hatchard-Smith who gave generous hospitality to servicemen from the Commonwealth and USA during WW2 and to Rhodes Scholars later. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/780A87Nx86

The new Peter Hall was first used in April 1985 and in 1989 it was decided to buy the moveable organ from the nave of Worcester Cathedral to work alongside the organ which had been installed in 1898

Now the Raleigh Mission Community alongside All Saints East Budleigh & St Michael’s Otterton.

The town formerly Salterton or Salterne, derives its name from the manufacture of salt in large salt pans which were constructed at the lower part of the River Otter, just before it emerged into the sea.
Derek Harper CCL www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1960200