点评:The tall tower of St Mary’s Church dominates the surrounding area. You can’t miss this church - it was designed to be seen! When it was built in the mid C15th, Totnes was the 16th richest town in England and the church reflects this.
It is built of red sandstone which glows in the sunlight, especially after rain.
The inside reflects the importance of Totnes. The highly carved civic pews date from the mid C17th and were made for the mayor and Aldermen of the town. They now stand in the centre of the aisle, having been moved here in the C19th.
The wonderful stone rood screen is mid C15th and stretches across the nave and side aisles. It is one of the few stone screens in Devon and is regarded as one of the finest with its delicate tracery at the top. Don’t miss the equally elaborate stairs in the chancel which would have given access to the top of the rood screen.
Also look up at the chancel roof with its carved wooden angels above the stone corbels.
There are memorials to the great and good of Totnes. These included the memorial to William Smythe in St George’s Chapel who bought the priory ruins after the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII and gifted them to the town to be used as a Guildhall.
On the north wall is the splendid monument to Christopher Blackhall, a prominent Totnes citizen who died in 1633. Kneeling in a line below him are his four wives.
The terracotta memorial at the back of the church near the font remembers the two Venning brothers, John and Walter who set up the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline in London. John Venning went on to establish the Russian Prison Society and worked for better prison and lunatic asylum conditions.
It is definitely worth going into . The ‘Secret of St Mary’s’ booklet available in the church is £3. 50 and worth buying as it lists all sorts of things both inside and out that are so easily missed.
翻译:圣玛丽教堂的高塔在周围地区占据主导地位。你不能错过这座教堂——它的设计就是为了让人们看到!当它建于 15 世纪中期时,托特尼斯是英格兰第 16 位最富有的城镇,教堂反映了这一点。
它由红色砂岩建成,在阳光下闪闪发光,尤其是在雨后。
里面体现了托特尼斯的重要性。雕刻精美的市政长椅可以追溯到 17 世纪中期,是为镇长和市议员制作的。它们现在站在过道的中央,是在 19 世纪搬到这里的。
精美的石质圣台屏风位于十五世纪中叶,横跨中殿和侧廊。它是德文郡为数不多的石屏之一,因其顶部精致的窗饰而被认为是最好的石屏之一。不要错过圣坛中同样精致的楼梯,它可以通往圣坛屏风的顶部。
还可以抬头看看圣坛屋顶,石牛腿上方雕刻着木制天使。
这里有纪念托特尼斯的伟大和善良的纪念碑。其中包括圣乔治教堂的威廉·斯迈斯纪念碑,他在亨利八世解散修道院后购买了修道院废墟,并将其赠送给城镇用作市政厅。
北墙上有一座宏伟的纪念碑,纪念克里斯托弗·布莱克霍尔 (Christopher Blackhall),他是一位著名的托特尼斯公民,于 1633 年去世。在他下面跪着的是他的四位妻子。
教堂后面靠近圣水池的赤土纪念碑纪念了文宁兄弟约翰和沃尔特,他们在伦敦成立了监狱纪律改进协会。约翰·维宁继续建立了俄罗斯监狱协会,并致力于改善监狱和疯人院的条件。
这绝对值得一去。教堂里有一本《圣玛丽的秘密》小册子,售价 3 英镑。 50 件,值得购买,因为里面列出了各种很容易被错过的东西。