Plymouth, Churches and Places of Worship | Ancient Parish Churches

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THE PARISH CHURCH OF STOKE DAMEREL

The Parish Church of Stoke Damerel is situated in Paradise Road, Devonport.

Records show that in 1288 there was a church serving the village of Stoche, as it was then known. The only other parish churches in the area at that time were at Eggbuckland, Tamerton Foliot and Plymouth St Andrew's.

The Parish Church of Stoke Damerel, Plymouth

Officially, Stoke Damerel Parish Church has no dedication. At different times it has been as St Mary's or St Andrew's but is currently St Andrew and St Luke.

The date of the present Church is unknown although the embattled western tower, with its pinnacles, was built around 1490 and is reputedly the oldest building in the area. In 1553 the tower already had four bells at a time when Plymouth's St Andrew's Church still had none. It is built in the Perpendicular style.

For a long time it consisted of only one aisle. A second aisle was added in 1710 thanks to the generosity of a Dockyard officer by the name of Richard Young, and around 1751* a third aisle was added, using old ships' stantions to support the roof. That consequently made the Church wider than it was long. The chancel was rebuilt in 1868.

During an inspection of the bells in 1778 it was discovered that three of them were cracked. The Bishop granted a licence to remove the bells and all four of them were recast by Mr Thomas Bilbie of Cullompton, Devon. The peel was increased to six, these being hung on August 3rd 1789 and rung for the first time that same year when HRH King George III passed by on his way to the Dockyard. The bells were subsequently rehung by Mr William Aggett of Chagford.

A church clock was installed in 1811 and bears the inscription "Richard Rodd and George Snowdon, churchwardens".

In the Churchyard is the gravestone of EPOP NHOJ (or John Pope) who, the stone tells us, lived for 31,755 days.

Following a proposal to turn the Church into a cathedral for Devonport, Mr William D Caröe (1857-1938) designed a new Rectory and a new Church. On Saturday November 29th 1902, inn drenching rain, the Bishop of Exeter, Doctor Ryle, laid the foundation stone of the Church in the great sanctuary field overlooking what was described as 'the present dilapidated and mean looking building which it will replace'. The work was to be carried out in four sections, the first to include a morning chapel and vestry at a cost of £4,000.

After luncheon in the parish church school-room, the rector, the Reverend S Gordon Ponsonby, led the Bishop and guests to the great sanctuary field for the ceremony. The field had been covered with wooden planks to avoid the mud created by the incessant rain but there was little overhead shelter.

The stone bore the inscription: 'To the glory of God this stone was laid on St Andrew's eve in the year 1902, being the year of the Coronation of King Edward VII., by Herbert Edward, Lord Bishop of Exeter.' The Bishop was presented with a silver trowel by the clergy and churchwardens of Stoke Damerel and a handsome mallet, adorned with the Bishop's arms, by the contractor.

The altar in the Parish Church of Stoke Damerel, Plymouth, circa 1960

Among the noted guests were the Mayor and Mayoress of Devonport, Mr & Mrs J C Tozer and the Mayor and Mayoress of Plymouth, Mr & Mrs H Hurrell.

When completed it would have accommodated 1,358 worshippers but in the event only the Lady Chapel was ever built. The chancel was shortened again in 1904 when this proposal was abandoned.

The Lady Chapel was demolished in 1967.

The parish records are held at the Plymouth & West Devon Records Office in Clare Place, Sutton Road, Plymouth.

* J M Slader claims this was in 1780.