The Parish Church of Shute

Formerly the Ancient Chapel of St. Michael

(photos can be enlarged by left clicking on them once)

Shute Church is an ancient and beautiful small building. It is believed that there may have been a Saxon Church on this site, but as there are no written records to confirm this prior to the year 1205, the history of St. Michael’s must start there. The earliest record of the church is a Deed of Bishop Marshall (1194-1206) which refers to “ecclesia de Colinton et Cappella de Schieta” proving the early foundation of the chapel. There are other records of 1269 when a Vicar was endowed with”the whole attalage of the church of Colyton and its chapel at Shute” and July 10th 1301 when a visitation was held at Shute and a report given as to the state of the chapel and contents.

In the year 1205 the men of Devon paid 5000 marks to King John to have the County “disafforested” all but Dartmoor and Exmoor, and sometime afterwards the Manor of Shute was created out of the waste land, and given to Lucas de la Shute (or Schiete) who built a Manor House and Church. The builders of Shute Chapel, taking as their model the mother church of Colyton, erected a cruciform building with an Early English centre tower. The stone used is dressed flint, and the exterior features of the building are mainly of perpendicular style.

In the 15th Century the South Transept was widened, and the Lady Chapel erected on the North side of the Chancel, the wall being replaced by an arcade. The earliest parish register dates back to 1568 and it was rebound in red leather in 1805 (the same year as the Battle of Trafalgar).In 1811 the North Aisle was added, and the arcade replaced the Nave wall. It is probabel that the Chapel roof was raised to its present height at the same time. The fabric of the church consists of local chert, possibly quarried on Shute Hill, with Beer Stone windows, door frames, quoins and coping stones on the gables. The floor is constructed of blue lias found locally at Lyme Regis.

Medieval Scratch Sundial:

On the left hand side of the arch of the front porch is a medieval sundial. The majority of medieval sundials are the so called “scratch dials”, a superficially simple dial, usually carved on the walls of churches. These basic sundials, roughly scratched on the face of south walls in many old churches, consist of nothing more than groups of scratched lines radiating from a point where there is a hole in which a peg could be stuck to act as the gnomon of this very amateurish dial. Despite their primitive appearance, they have often been planned with great care, revealing a reasonable knowledge of geometry. It is not known when the medieval style of sundial was introduced into England, but most authors agree that it came from the continent as a result of the Norman Conquest. It is thought that our scratch sundial dates from between 1100 and 1200 AD. (Information obtained from Gordon Le Pard, Historical Environment Assistant, Devon County Council).

A more modern sundial in memory of Mary Clode(1888) can be seen above the front arch.

Memorial to Charles Templer:

This memorial was placed in Shute church by Sir John William Pole, in memory of Charles Beckford Templer who persihed on the 760 ton 26 cannons East Indiaman “Halsewell”, captained by Richard Pierce, on January 6th 1786. This wreck occurred on the Dorset Coast, near Worth Matravers on the Isle of Purbeck. On consulting the Poles of Shute family tree, it appears that Sir John Wm Pole 6th married Ann Templer of Stover, the brother of Charles Templer. A CD of Dorset’s three shipwrecked East Indiaman ships contains the detailed history of the Halsewell’s fateful voyage and describes Charles Templer as a “youth cut off by this terrible blow”. He was the brother of James Templer, his majesty’s attorney and master of the crown office in the King’s bench.

The font is fifteenth century, probably later re-dressed. The cover has attractive wrought iron decoration:

The stone pulpit is in imitation of Early English style:

There is “Devonshire” foliage on the fifteenth century capitals in the side chapel, and the heraldic glass in the same chapel is early seventeenth century. There were three bells in the tower in 1553 which survived until on January 7th 1760, when a licence was granted by the Bishop to cast three bells into four, and add another to make a peal of five.

(The five bells have the following inscriptions:  1. My treble voice your hearts rejoice. J.B Selwood, vicar; B. Domett, G.Cummings, Churchwardens. Re-cast by J. Warner and Sons, London 1864.      2. J.D. and J.H., Ch. wardens. T.B. fecit 1761.    3. Thomas Bilbie, Cullompton, fecit 1761.    4. Mr. John Dunning and Mr. John Harris, Ch. wardens.             5. The Reverend George Anstis; T.B. fecit 1761. )  A sixth bell was added in 1923.

In 1967 the sanctuary was refashioned and the Lady Chapel (which had been dismantled in the 16th Century) refurnished and re-consecrated. A new vestry was built in 1869 at the end of the north transept. The old high pews have been replaced by open benches in red deal.

The organ was built in 1800 for the new Shute House.

This delightful chamber organ was originally a barrel-and -keyboard instrument. The barrel mechanism has been removed, although a list of the hymn tunes it held is still pasted inside the frame.

The church has several handsome monuments of the Poles, one of which has a fine marble statue of Sir William Pole in full court dress, as master of Queen Anne’s household. It represents a life-size figure on a handsome pedestal with the wand of office in his right hand. “The countenance is beautifully expressive, and the drapery very skillfully arranged and exquisitely sculptured ” (George Pulman: The Book of the Axe).This exceptional statue commemorates Sir William Pole’s death at Shute on December 31st, 1741 aged 63.

Another member of the dynasty, Margaret Pole, is commemorated with a 19th-century alabaster sculptured panel depicting her greeting her daughters at the gates of heaven.

Below is a link to further photographs of all the memorials in Shute church including Sir John William Pole’s, the builder of ‘New’ Shute House:
http://www.churchmonumentssociety.org/Devon_4.html

Mousa Al-Kordi, a Moslem Artist born in Palestine in 1951, spent his formative years in Kuwait, later working as a telecommunications engineer in the Uk for 19 years. He then obtained an Honours Degree in Fine Art from Exeter School of Art, University of Plymouth, followed by an MA in Contemporary Visual Arts from College University, Falmouth. He later became a lecturer at Exeter University. His own work has been exhibited and collected widely. He was commissioned to creat the Millennium Plaque on the South Chancel Wall.  The work was inspired by both the 15C Grunewald crucifixion and the nave window in Coventry Cathedral.

Stained Glass Windows:

St. Michael: an angelic warrior, fully armed with helmet, sword and shield, standing over the dragon.He also holds a pair of scales in which he weighs the souls of the departed or the book of life to show that he takes part in the final judgement.

St. Michael’s feast day (Michaelmas) is September 29th. His wings represent swiftness and his sword authority of power. He is the Patron Saint of Police and Paramedics.

Plaques and Tombstones:

Flower festival

(all pictures courtesy of David Vickers and Rick Wood)