Like the cathedral it is cruciform in plan, with transepts formed by towers[3] Nikolaus Pevsner describes the building as “lying large and low like a tired beast”.

It was consecrated in 1260, at which time the manor and patronage of the church belonged to Rouen Cathedral, as it had from before the Norman invasion.

Pevsner assumes that the tower-transepts and the outer walls of the chancel date back to 1260, and that the towers were built in imitation of those at Exeter.

[6] In 1335 John Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, bought the manor and advowson from Rouen and on 22 January 1338 established a collegiate foundation with forty members.

He rebuilt much of the church, and the present nave, chancel, aisles and Lady chapel date from this time.

His alterations included lowering the floor level of the transepts, crossing and western part of the chancel to that of the nave, making the east end, designed for the needs of the collegiate foundation, more suitable for parochial use.

[11] They were designed by John Duke Coleridge and paid for by Miss Mary Dickinson in memory of her father, the late Rev.

There is a small stone plaque commemorating the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the south churchyard wall.

Sir Ernest Mason Satow, scholar, diplomat and Japanologist, is buried in the churchyard, and a plaque inside the church, originally at the British Legation chapel in Peking, commemorates his life.

[13] On 26 September 2015, St Mary's was the location of the first ordination service in the Church of England to be led by a woman: Sarah Mullally, Bishop of Crediton, ordained two deacons as priests.