This church has a most unusual truncated spire. Despite tales that it was used to build fires to guide shipping, it is likely that the shape is due to rebuilding after storm damage in the great gale of 1703. I apologise for the picture quality, especially of the steeple; I believe I had water on the lens.
It is possible that the building of the first permanent church in Porlock was begun at about the time when the bones of St Dubricius were moved from Bardsey Island to Llandaff Cathedral in 1120. However, there is no doubt that much of the present building belongs to the 13th century, the and Early English period of architecture. Reconstruction took place in the 15th century and more restoration work was done between 1888 and 1891. The present church comprises of a chancel and nave together with a south aisle which doesn't extend the full length of the church, a north porch with an upper storey, a priest's vestry, a modern organ chamber and a west tower.
Here are two pictures of the nave, looking east and west.
Here are pictures of the pipe organ, font and church banner. The font is larger than average and is a finely proportioned piece of early Perpendicular work. It was probably made when the walls of the south aisle were raised and the existing windows inserted. Like many fonts of this type, it was probably originally richly coloured. The organ was completely restored by Michael Farley of Budleigh Salterton in 1999-2000; the action was updated to a modern solid state system.
This ancient clock is displayed at the back of the nave. It has neither face nor hands and merely struck the hours on the tenor bell. It was in use until the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897. It may have been constructed between 1400 and 1450 but the date is uncertain.
Under the most easterly arch of the arcade stands the Harington Monument in alabaster, which is one of the finest of its kind in England. At the end of the 14th century the Manor of Porlock came into the posession of Isabella after the death of her father, Sir Nigel Loring, and she had married, as her second husband, Sir Robert Harington, 3rd Lord Harington of Aldingham in the County of Lancashire. Their elder son, John, succeeded his father as 4th Lord Harington, and he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Courtenay, third Earl of Somerset. The alabaster memorial commemorates John, 4th Lord Harington and his wife Elizabeth Courtenay.
The two figures are considered to be earlier in date that the canopy above them. The knight is in the plate armour of the period with his head on a tilting helmet bearing the Harington crest, a lion's head erased. Round the helmet he wears a rich garland of roses and leaves and his head is supported by angels, very unusual in the case of a knight. The lady has most beautifully rounded folds to the lower part of her dress; she has a rich 'mitred' head-dress and her head rests on two cushions with delicately wrought tassels.
Both effigies and canopy were formerly richly ornamented with colour and gilding. The uncouth creature at the lady's feet is no douby the Courtenay board, and in years past mothers were wont to awe their children into obedience by threats of the wild board that would come out of Poole's wood and eat them 'like the lady up to the church." The monument has not escaped the hands of vandals and are scratched all over with names and initials going back as far as 1591.
John, 4th Lord Harington, was much in favour with King Henry V (1413-1422), and he accompanied the king on his second expedition to France in 1417. He did not return from the expedition. Lord Harington took with him a sizeable company of 86 archers and 29 lances, who were doubtless relatives of the then Rector of Porlock, Robert Goode or God. Before he left England, Lord Harington made his will which is dated 8th June, 1417 (proved 1418), and in it he directs that two priests be appointed "to celebrate divine service and to pray for the souls of my father and mother and all my ancestors." This direction led to the founding of the Harington Chantry, but no steps appear to have been taken to carry out the testator's wishes until July, 1774, about three years after the death Elizabeth, his widow. In that year a royal licence was granted by King Henry VI (1422-1461) for the foundation of a Chantry "at the altar in the Chapel of the Blessed Mary", which was the altar in the south aisle still called the Lady Chapel. The ritual directions for these services are precise and elaborate in the deed establishing the Chantry. The first two chantry priests, Edmund Helme and John Bykcombe, were appointed in 1475 and the last appointment was made in 1546.
The room above the north porch was neglected until the 18th century when it was used to educate the poor children of the parish until alternative accommodation for the school was found in the 19th century. In 1985 the room was restored to a Chapel, which is regularly used for prayer and meditation. Before the Rood Screen was removed, it contained a Chapel dedicated to the "High Cross", a reference to the large Crucifix which would have been hung on the Rood Screen. This unusual dedication has been retained for the new chapel.
Digital photograph
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