Widecombe-in-the-Moor

P4230566.jpg (74151 bytes) P4230565.jpg (59940 bytes) P4230559.jpg (45976 bytes) P4230561.jpg (53428 bytes)

P4230563.jpg (67298 bytes)


P4230564.jpg (71427 bytes)
Gravestones in the church cemetery


This picturesque village, on the Dartmoor, has a magnificent church which was erected in the latter half of the 15th century upon the site of a more ancient building founded at an unknown date; for in 1279 Roger le Rous sold the Church at Wydecombe to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter.  In the earlier church there was a chapel dedicated to St. Catherine, for a Canon of Exeter Cathedral who died 1406, and he desired to be buried in the Chapel at Wydecombe Church.

It is dedicated to St. Pancras a youthful martyr of the Dioclesian persecution in 304.  The church is 104 feet in length and consists of Nave, north and south aisles, transepts, chancel and north and south Chantry Aisles.  There are signs that there used to be three side altars in addition to the High Altar.  Arches over the opening to the transepts are of molded oak.  The pulpit, which is of solid granite, is the work of a Widecombe stone mason.

Main Page