Church of St Mary the Virgin, Huxham

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Huxham church is closed except for scheduled services.

Click here for a visitor’s guide to the church (a PDF document which can be printed if required).

Huxham Church is part of Stoke Canon with Huxham Ecclesiastical Parish, and with eight other churches it is part of the Netherexe Mission Community.

The original fourteenth century church of St Mary at Huxham was entirely rebuilt during the nineteenth century; the chancel in 1864 by John Hayward and the nave in 1871 by Benjamin Ferrey. It is constructed from local volcanic stone quarried at Thorverton but it is difficult to determine whether or not medieval stonework was reused anywhere in the rebuilt church.

In the north and south windows of the chancel are some fragments of medieval glass from the original church. A piscina (a shallow basin used for washing the communion vessels) is located in the south wall of the chancel. The sandstone font dates from the Norman era and has a bowl with spiral roll moulding, set up on a nineteenth century base. The screen is of late fifteenth century origin.

Huxham itself is a small parish situated on the banks of the River Culm north east of Exeter. Following the Norman Conquest, the tenant in chief was Ralph de Pomeroy, who had fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and who originally hailed from La Pommeraie in Bayeux, Normandy. Fourteen households (representing about 50 to 60 people) were recorded in Huxham in the Domesday Book of 1086, along with the existence of a mill. The manor was anciently held by the Huxham family, whose heiress carried it in marriage to an ancestor of Lord Poltimore during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). In 1850 most of the 830 acres of land in the parish were still the property of Lord Poltimore, the lord of the manor. Although agriculture has always been the mainstay of the parish, throughout the nineteenth century paper was produced at a mill situated at the western end of the lane that lies to the north of Bussell’s Farm.