Church Of St. Mary The Virgin. Oare
Oare Church is a unique building. What could have motivated people to build a Church in what must have been a wild and remote spot? The present network of roads did not exist, but the community survived in a real way. The parish is now served by a Non-Stipendiary Priest who lives in the Rectory. This beautiful listed Church is still maintained and kept as a centre for living worship and has at least one service each Sunday. A list of each month's services is pinned up in the porch, and the Rector, Churchwardens and people of Oare would be delighted if you would join them. Meanwhile they hope the Church, the Churchyard and the beautiful surroundings have given you pleasure.
Oareford Church
Oareford Church
The placque to Ricrd Blackmore in Oareford Church
On the west side of the door is a memorial, erected in 1928, to Richard Blackmore: it is a reproduction of the one m Exeter cathedral.
A robbery in 1999 deprived the church of a lectern in the form of an eagle, a carved wooden plaque of the Prince of Wales feathers, and an 18th century painting on wood of Moses handing the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. Each of these items were irreplaceable. A local craftsman, Mike Leach of Selworthy, carved the new Buzzard lectern. Buzzards are a common sight in the valley, and it was felt to be an appropriate replacement.
A local craftsman carved the new Buzzard lectern to rplace the one that was stolen from Oare Church
If the visitor wishes to reconstruct the shooting scene in "Lorna Doone", there are several points which should be remembered. At the end of the seventeenth century, where Blackmore's imagination placed it, the church ended where the screen is now, and the window in the south wall may well have been unglazed. The box pews were not yet in the nave, which would have had open benches, like those of Culbone. The wagon roofs had their ribs and bosses, some of which are preserved under the chancel arch.
Blackmore has woven the lively tradition of the presence of a band of outlaws (the Doones) on Exmoor into one of the best selling romances in modern literature. His grandfather, John Blackmore, was Rector of Oare from 1809 to 1842, although parish records suggest that he rarely - if ever - came to Oare.
A John Ridd was churchwarden as recently as 1914 to 1925. His grandson, David Richards, is one of the present Churchwardens.
For at least 800 hundred years this building has been a Pariah Church. Oare, mentioned in the Domesday book, is named from Oare Water, which is an ancient Bntish river name.
In 1225 Robert of Oare killed Walter, the chaplain of the place, and wounded Gervase, the chaplain's son. ft is somewhat surprising that Oare should have supported a chaplain (Capellanus,) having regard to the smallness of the population.
The roofs of the nave and inner (or old) chancel are of the wagon type,
and are probably of the fifteenth century.
The pulpit, reading desk and box pews (with their doors) are simple
well-proportioned work, typical of the eighteenth century.
The nave is a remarkably good and untouched example of the treatment
of Georgian times.
The east.window is modern, (19th century) like the Chancel to the east
of the screen.
On the south side of the inner chancel is a piscina In the shape of a head, probably meant to represent St. Decuman. It shows that until modern times the altar stood to the west of the present position of the screen.
The basin of the font may be as old as the twelfth century. The octagonal base and stem are probably early nineteenth century work.
In the tower are three bells cast in 1873. The old bell, dated 1770, is also preserved, and the clock strikes on it. It was cast by Thomas ' Bayiey, a Bridgewater bell-founder, and his name is on it together with the motto "Memento mori."
The memorial to Nicholas Snow is the work of Countess Fedora Gleichen. Readers of Blackmore will be interested in the contrast between the characters of the seventeenth century Nicholas Snow of the Lorna Doone story and the man described on this tablet.
In 1999 a tablet was stolen It showed the 'Prince of Wales' feathers in relief commemorating the Prince's visit in 1863, when he hunted on Exmoor with Nicholas Snow.
Oareford |
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