Celebrating our church heritage

Tiny remote churches,

Impressive market town churches,

Large Victorian churches in cities and seaside towns,

Small chapels of ease…

There are just over 600 church buildings in the Diocese of Exeter. Each represents the lives of thousands of people who have worshipped, celebrated and mourned there. Our churches contain many objects of great beauty and craftsmanship, both ancient and modern. These can often tell a story of liturgical and social change, along with changes in fashion and architectural styles.

• 35% of our church buildings are listed at Grade I, meaning they are of exceptional interest.
• 31% are listed at Grade II*, meaning they are particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
• 16% are listed at Grade II, meaning they are of special interest.
• 18% are unlisted.

Buildings are listed for special architectural and/or historic interest. Special architectural interest might be related to a well known architect designing the building, or it being a rare or particularly good example of a style. Special historic interest is more about the social history of the building – who used it, what happened there, and what role has it played in our history? You can find out more about listing, and look up listing descriptions for listed churches, on the Historic England website.

Map courtesy of Devon Churchland, an amazing resource providing photographic and descriptive records of many of our church buildings in the Diocese of Exeter.

You can find further information by using the links below:

Case studies		Living Stones newsletter		The Walker Lapthorne Award