Church of St Peter ad Vincula, Combe Martin

Possibly built on the site of a Saxon church, construction of the present building began in the 13th-century with additions in the 15th-century and later.

A large parish church for the size of the village owing to the time when silver was mined in the area, the church is dedicated to St. Peter ad Vincula ("St. Peter in Chains") and is derived from the ancient Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.

The tower has large three-light Perpendicular bell-openings on each face and a cusped niche holding a carved figure of Christ.

The Rood figures of Jesus, Mary and John the Apostle were carved in 1962 by Colin Shewring, basing his work on a picture in a medieval Book of Hours.

In 2009 the church received £45,000 from the Lottery Heritage Fund towards its £64,000 total to conserve the medieval screen and its paintings.

The baptismal font dates to 1427[6] and is Perpendicular with an octagonal lead-lined bowl and is decorated with blind traceried panels to each face; it retains traces of its original paint.

[4] The Devon cradle or wagon roofs are everywhere and were ceiled in 1725, that of the North transept being especially attractive with stars in the centre of the panels.

[1] In the churchyard near the lychgate is buried James Norman (c1844-1898),[8] the sexton at the church and the inspiration for Reuben Dale in The Mighty Atom (1896) by Marie Corelli, written during her stay at the nearby Pack o' Cards inn.

[9][10] The war memorial in the Garden of Remembrance attached to the churchyard is in the form of a cross and was designed by W C Willis and unveiled in 1921.