One of the fascinations of exploring the English countryside is stumbling upon the historical buildings in the most ordinary of places like, well, the middle of a village. Of course, the trick is to stumble upon the village first. But, in reality, you can’t go five minutes in this place before passing through at the very least a couple of farms and some barn conversions and, hey presto, you have a village. (I think technically you have a hamlet if there are no services). But you get my drift….
And so I stumbled upon Sherford, a small hamlet close to the village of Frogmore, close to the town of Kingsbridge. Sherford’s main claim to fame (if indeed it has one) is Saint Martin of Tours Church, a small 14th century church.
Saint Martin was the Bishop of Tours in 4th century France who became a patron saint of poverty, geese, horses, Buenos Aires, alcoholism AND wine makers just to name a few. The story most associated with Martin is the legend of his cloak. Apparently, when Martin was still a soldier he came across a beggar in rags in the depths of winter so he cut his cloak in two with his sword and gave half to the beggar. The part he kept for himself eventually became a religious relic preserved in abbeys and churches, carried by kings into battle and used as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn. While all of this may be the stuff of legend, there are interesting linguistic derivations which have come down to us through the ages: the priest who cared for the cloak was called a cappellanu and ultimately all priests who served in the military were cappellani, the French translation being chapelains and, hey presto, we get chaplains; similarly, the small churches built to care for the relic were called capellas – the word for a little cloak – which over time lost their association with the cloak but became chapels.
The hamlet of Sherford dates back to the early 11th century when King Canute’s Royal Estate of Chillington included the manor of Sherford. The first documentary evidence of the church dates back to 1288 although the main body of the present church was built during the 14th century. The dedication to Saint Martin of Tours took place in 1457.
The church is best known for its medieval rood screen, a feature which was common in late medieval church architecture. A rood screen is an ornate partition between the chancel and the nave, usually made of richly carved wood or stone. Saint Martin’s is believed to have been carved in the early 16th century. There have obviously been some modifications to the screen over the years but the central panelling remains with traces of original colouring in its painted figures of apostles and saints. While the artist is unknown, they were influenced by the Flemish style – an unusual feature for a rural church situated in the depths of Devon. Sadly, some of the art has been obliterated over time.
