A Brief History of St. Saviour’s Church

St. Saviour’s has served the people of Dartmouth for more than six hundred years. However the mother church, St. Clement’s, was built at Townstal because in Saxon times the people lived in the village at the top of the hill. In 1198 William Fitz Stephen the Lord of Townstal granted this church to the newly founded Torre Abbey, who specialised in training canons to serve as priests in their churches. For the next 300 years the Abbot of Torre appointed the vicars of Townstal and drew the revenues such as fees for weddings, funerals and gifts left in wills. In the 12th and 13th centuries as Dartmouth developed as a port of international importance people moved down to the riverside to live, build ships, trade with Europe and take part in the King’s foreign campaigns. The tiring climb up to St. Clement’s on the narrow unpaved lanes in all weathers stirred the townsmen, now organised into a group of burgesses, to demand that a church should be built where they now lived.

In 1186 Edward I visited Dartmouth and, perhaps in recognition of the part played by Dartmouth ships in his many wars, gave the burgesses permission to build a church down near the river on a site offered by William Bacon, one of their leaders. However, Torre Abbey was unwilling to lose the revenues from St. Clement’s and refused to grant permission for a new church to be built. Nothing seems to have happened until 1331, when William Bacon - possibly the son of the donor of 1386 - was licensed to give his land to two Augustinian Friars to build an “oratory” (chapel). Friars by tradition were preachers, not supposed to compete with the normal parish clergy in saying mass or taking other services. Soon Torre Abbey complained about them to the Bishop of Exeter who excommunicated Bacon for his pains. In 1335 the Bishop directed that the Friars were only allowed to use the “Chapel newly built by them” provided they did not hear confession or celebrate mass. Clearly they disobeyed this order, so in 1344 they were ordered to demolish their chapel. When the Friars protested the case was referred to Rome, which eventually confirmed this decision. However, before the news reached Devon, Brother Hugo, of the Augustinian order, arrived in the town claiming to be Bishop of Damascus with powers to consecrate their chapel. He was naturally welcomed by William Smale - the Mayor of Dartmouth, newly created a self-governing borough by King Edward III in 1341 - and his friend William Bacon. He walked around the chapel sprinkling water in a most convincing way, confirmed children, heard confessions and granted indulgences. Hugo was later revealed to be an imposter and the chapel was again ordered to be demolished. Records show that it was not pulled down, despite repeated orders from the Bishop, that chaplains were serving there and people began to make gifts to “the new chapel in Dartmouth.” This was the beginning of the present church of St. Saviour’s.

It was only after a new bishop of Exeter had taken over that the chapel was recognised. Long negotiations between the Bishop, the Abbot of Torre, the vicar of Townstal and Dartmouth Corporation finally led to the signing of a formal charter in 1372. It said that 12 named members of the Corporation had presumed to build the chapel without licence. Their actions were now legalised provided they recognised the rights of the mother church at Townstal, which they must honour by attending there once a year. At their own expense they could add to the building and provide a chaplain, but the Vicar of Townstal could preach there if he wished. On October 13th 1372 the Bishop himself came to dedicate the new chapel.

It can be seen that it was the Corporation of Dartmouth, representing the ordinary people, who were responsible for the erection of this church and who accepted financial responsibility for enlarging it as well as paying for the chaplain. A leading member of the Corporation from 1370 to 1408 was John Hawley, one of the 12 who signed the charter of 1372. His brass lies in the chancel, of which as the inscription says he was the founder, with his two wives on either side.

Geoffrey Chaucer, then a royal official, visited Dartmouth in 1373 to reclaim for the King a Genoese ship and cargo seized by the Mayor and Corporation. He must have met Hawley, then one of the leading burgesses. Many people have therefore said that Hawley was the model for the “Shipman,” a character in the Canterbury Tales later written by Chaucer. Dartmouth was already notorious for piracy, and Chaucer would have heard how, only 12 years before, William Smale - the Mayor who had welcomed “Bishop” Hugo - was accused of piracy, stealing a ship and killing the crew He is a much more likely inspiration for the Shipman, who is said to have made his prisoners walk the plank. It was the middle of the Hundred Years War with France and John Hawley by contrast was in 1379 licensed by the King as a privateer, one of many such ships which took the place of the Royal Navy in those days. Later he was appointed leader of ships defending the western Channel, equivalent to an Admiral. He was fourteen times Mayor and four times Member of Parliament for the town. He helped negotiate the 1372 Charter for St. Saviour’s, and built the Chancel with his own money. He built, on the King’s orders, the first castle by the mouth of the Dart to defend the town against expected French attacks. In 1404 when an army of Bretons landed on Slapton beach intent on attacking Dartmouth he organised an army which met and defeated them at Blackpool. This man was regarded in his day as a local hero and should not be called a mere pirate.

Over the next century the nave was expanded from the first two pairs of pillars at the west end with two taller ones further east, on which the head of a canon of Torre with his distinctive cap was carved. The chancel was added in the 1390’s and the transepts in the early 1400’s. By this time, at the east end, a bell tower with a clock and organs were there. The beautiful carved wooden screen, decorated with bunches of grapes entwined with ships’ cables reflecting the town’s involvement in the Bordeaux wine trade, was there by the end of the century. One curiosity in the middle of the intricate carving is the head of a Green Man - a pagan symbol of a fertility god which suggests that pre-Christian beliefs still secretly persisted in Devon. The tulip-shaped stone pulpit dates from the same late 15th century period. The old wooden door with its massive ironwork seems to be the original one from the 14th century as recent carbon dating tests have shown the timber to be from that time. The two animals could be heraldic versions of English leopards, the symbol of the Plantagenets in whose reign the church was built, with the tree of life representing the church growing between them. The main structure and plan was complete by about 1500, but with every century, each generation sought to improve and beautify the much loved building.

The Reformation by Henry VIII in the 1530’s meant that Torre Abbey was dissolved, along with all the other monasteries. Simon Rede, the last Abbot, had himself made Vicar of Townstal in 1531, and moved there after the Abbey was closed. Rede sold off the Advowson - the right to appoint the Vicar - and the Tithes of Townstal to private individuals. Dartmouth Corporation moved swiftly to appropriate to themselves much of the property, church jewels and valuables, to prevent them being sold by the King to raise money. They had always used the proceeds of this to pay the expenses of the church. Protestant practices, by royal command, were introduced: the cross and altar were removed, the English Bible and prayer book introduced, and the Ten Commandments painted on the wall. After a brief Catholic reaction in the reign of Mary, Elizabeth confirmed the Protestant changes. Some time in her reign a fine communion table was placed in the church. In 1586 the Dartmouth Corporation took an important step to regaining control of the church when they bought from the private individuals who then owned them the advowson and tithes of Townstal. They could now appoint both the Vicar of Townstal and the Chaplain of St. Saviour’s, and could use the tithes to pay for them as well as for church repairs.

Between 1631-5 there was a major enlargement and restoration of the church paid for partly by public subscription and partly out of Corporation funds. The tower was increased in height, as well as the roof of the nave and the aisles. Beer stone was brought in for the walls, and Rouen glass for the windows. The initials of Alexander Staplehill and William Gurney, Mayors from 1633-5, are painted on the roof of the aisles, showing their pride in their work, and Gilbert Staplehill’s brass was added beside that of John Hawley. The date “1631” on the great door most probably represents a major repair at this time, when a smith was paid £3.6.2 for his work.

In addition, a gallery was inserted at the west end, providing extra seating, and enabling the display of coats of arms of famous people associated with the town. [The story that the timbers used came from the Armada ship the Nuestra Senora del Rosario, which was captured in 1588 and brought into the Dart, is not supported by any historical evidence.]

In the Civil War, 1642-49, Dartmouth sided with Parliament and was occupied by a Royalist army. The Vicar, Harford, described in his day as “a great preacher,” was probably of Puritan leanings and fled on their arrival. During the rule by Oliver Cromwell Harford died and was replaced by John Flavel, a Puritan. In 1660 the monarchy was restored under Charles II, with Parliament now firmly anti-

Puritan. In 1662 Flavel was one of 2,000 clergy who refused to conform by taking communion and using the prayer book, and resigned from the living. Now the parishioners were divided between those who accepted the Anglican church and were eligible to serve on the Council, as M.P.s, to enter universities or become government ministers, and Dissenters, who now organised their own churches and were excluded from public life. Flavel after his death in 1691 was buried in the chancel of St. Saviour’s, as was his right as a former vicar, and a brass inscription praising him put up by his followers. This was removed in 1709 and placed in the new meeting house for Flavel’s followers. In 1885, in a more tolerant age, a copy of it was put up in St. Saviour’s near the stairs to the gallery.

In 1671 Charles II arrived by ship in Dartmouth and was entertained by the Corporation in the Butterwalk. This is remembered in St. Saviour’s by his royal coat of arms, placed in the centre of the other shields on the gallery. The first window on the south aisle also bears the arms of Charles Fitz Charles, showing the ‘bend sinister’ of bastardy. He was the king’s son by Catherine Pegg, whom Charles created Baron Dartmouth, Viscount Totnes and Earl of Plymouth when he came of age in 1675. He died in 1680, leaving no heirs.

During the 18th and early 19th centuries the families of Holdsworth and Newman were the most prominent in the town and in St. Saviour’s. The Holdsworth arms can be seen in the north rose window of the gallery, and those of Newman in the south rose window. One notable introduction in 1784 was a new organ, built by Paul Micheau, which was placed in the west gallery

Henry Holdsworth was vicar 1726-1763, and John Nosworthy who followed was married to a Holdsworth. In 1811 Robert Holdsworth became vicar and built new galleries over the aisles and the transepts. He wrote in the baptism register, 1814-16:

“The new galleries of St. Saviour’s in the transepts and near the south side of the nave were begun in the mayoralty of Robert

Holdsworth, the writer of this, and ended in the mayoralty of

his brother Henry Joseph Holdsworth. The Aldermen’s seats were

planned by Arthur H. Holdsworth, M.P. for the borough and

executed by Mr. Lidstone, carpenter, 1815-16.”

These fine seats are still in use today for official visits by the mayor and town councillors. This Arthur H. Holdsworth also paid for the education of William Brockedon, a gifted but poor Totnes boy, and bought for St. Saviour’s his large painting “The Widow’s Son” which had won £100 prize at the Royal Institution in 1818. For many years it hung across the east window, but is now opposite the stairs to the gallery.

In 1832 the Reform Act giving the vote to all householders meant the end of Holdsworth control of the town council and soon of the church. An Act of 1836 forbade councils to hold advowsons, and clergy to be councillors, forcing Robert Holdsworth to resign from the council. Soon after he resigned his post as vicar of Townstal. The council hoped to sell the advowson for about £800, but as no buyer had yet been found the bishop of Exeter chose John Tracey, a young man of 26, as the next vicar. This reduced the value of the advowson whose new owner could not appoint anyone else until he died. John Seale of Mount Boone, the rival of the Holdsworth family and now the town’s M.P., bought it for £377, so succeeding to their control of town and church. The advowson has remained in the Seale family ever since.

A legal conflict erupted between the council and the church over responsibility for repairs and payment of the clergy’s stipend. Learned counsel after consulting the documents advised that the council need only pay the vicar £13.6.8d for Townstal annually and £5 for St. Saviour’s, and were not liable for repairs. For many years this remained the practice, and the church had to find other sources of income. One of these was by charging pew rents, but this was later declared illegal. The fabric of the church, unrepaired, became so bad that by the mid 1870’s the roof over the organ was leaking and they could not ring the bells as the tower was unsafe. In 1879 the vicar Priestley Foster - who had had several conflicts with the town council - resigned his living and referred the whole question of the responsibility of the council for church expenses to the Charity Commission, claiming that the council had illegally taken over church property at the time of the Reformation.

While a long investigation into town records was going on, the much needed major repair and restoration began, at a final cost of £3,431 which was raised by voluntary subscription. Starting in 1887, the early 19th century side galleries were removed, and the organ taken from the west gallery to be placed in the chancel, where it is today. New choir stalls were built alongside, and the Corporation seats were moved into the nave. The rood was returned to the screen. The old communion table was placed under the east window and made into the altar , the carved legs representing the four evangelists being moved to the front. New stained glass windows installed.

The Charity Commission’s lengthy investigation into the town’s records finally led in 1890 to the setting up of Dartmouth Charities which recovered for the Church what was considered its fair share of revenues from town property. At last, some money was available for repair and restoration of St. Saviour’s.

Each generation of worshippers has improved the church in the century that followed. The Lady Chapel was restored in the 1920’s, with its glorious wood and mosaic reredos, providing a suitable setting for the Tabernacle for the Blessed Sacrament. St. Nicholas Chapel on the north side of the church was restored in the 1950’s. The screens between the ringing chamber and the Gallery room were made by the then Verger, George Pearson. The pulpit was repaired in the 1980’s and moved on to its medieval line, revealing a funerary slab of a priest of the late middle ages. In the 1990’s, in the west entrance used for bringing in the coffin for funerals, wall paintings were revealed which have been dated to the same period.

As we enter the 21st century St. Saviour’s continues to serve a vibrant, active community where as of old new generations are baptised and married, and those who have departed this life are brought for the prayers of the church and their friends. Visitors are welcome to join their prayers, and their help with the high financial cost of keeping this beautiful building in repair is appreciated.