Churches of the British Isles

St Antony's Chapel is inside the southern 'v'-shape formed by the Cowley Hill and St Andrew's Road junction. Otherwise known as Cowley Church, it was built in 1867-1868 and is Grade 2 listed. The land for it was donated by the daughters of the late Joseph Sheppard of Cowley Place who had allowed worshippers to use his lounge. Closure and deconsecration took place around 2013-2014, and permission was granted in 2017 to covert it into a private residence.

The Parish Church of Our Lady (St Mary), Upton Pyne, is on the west side of Upton Pyne Hill, behind buildings lining this street. In 1328 Bishop Grandisson consecrated the church. Flakes of paint found on the statues on the tower during recent conservation work revealed that the figures were likely to have been carved in the Exeter cathedral workshops during the 1380s. These sculptures, although now rather worn, contribute to the building's Grade 1 status.

An earlier church on the site was mentioned in 1283, but no identifiable remains survive in the present local volcanic-trap-rock building. The old stone cross in the churchyard by the south door is older than any part of the present church and may well have belonged to the earlier one. The fifteen metre-high tower, plus the centre and south aisles, were built about 1380. The church was restored in 1875. The roof was entirely renewed, the church re-floored, the organ aisle built.

The Chapel of St John the Baptist, East Raddon (near Thorverton), stood at the south-west corner of Rixenford Lane as it meets the Thorverton road from the north, before turning sharply east again for Brampford Speke. Services were still held in the early 1900s, but it fell out of use soon after. The building was largely removed to Crediton Cemetery. The remnants were built up as a house called No Man's Chapel, now gone, while the site is now a garden for 'The Brambles'.

Brampford Speke Baptist Chapel is on the western side of Chapel Road, flanked to the south by the Exe Valley Tea Shop. The chapel was built in 1894, seemingly as an outreach of South Street Baptist Church in Exeter (see links), a meeting that is itself over two centuries old. Today the services at Brampford Speke are more informal than they are at the Exeter chapel, with a warm and welcoming fellowship that suits those wanting a smaller or more interactive service.

Photos on this page kindly contributed by Mike Yeats, Joseph Rogers, Kelek Trust, Robert Slack, and Bill Boaden, all via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group