Church of St Mary Steps

Heritage listing

Details 871/5/10 WEST STREET 29-JAN-53 (Northeast side) CHURCH OF ST MARY STEPS I 15th-century fabric. 1868-72 restored by Edward Ashworth. 1966 chancel reordered by Lawrence King. MATERIALS: Red Heavitree stone in large blocks; limestone dressings. NW red-brick vestry of brick. Slate roofs. PLAN: Nave, chancel, SW tower, S aisle and chapel, NW vestry. EXTERIOR: The church is very compact which reflects its constricted site just within the walls of medieval Exeter. The E wall of the building is angled in relation to the body of the building, so the church is longer on the N side than the S. The site also rises sharply to the N, hence the high-set appearance of the S aisle to balance the level with the chancel. The main façade, to the S, presents the S aisle and its adjacent tower to the street. The aisle has three three-light Perpendicular windows with panel tracery and which appear to have been renewed at the 19th-century restoration. Beneath the SE window is a plain round-headed doorway and a three-light mullioned window to a room, once a porter's lodge, below the SE chapel. The aisle, like the tower, is embattled. The unbuttressed tower is tall and of two-storeys and its base forms the entrance porch to the church. It has a round-arch doorway at its foot with a gentle, continuous wave moulding. Above it is a two-light window. Then, over this comes a clock of 1619 in a square frame: the dial with the sun and five stars rotates with the sun pointing to the hour. The minute had has the moon at one end. The figures round the dial probably represent Apollo and Diana, the god and goddess of the day and night, and Ceres and Minerva, the goddesses of agriculture and industry (Moreton). Above the clock, at the base of the second stage, is a niche with a cusped, ogee canopy an

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.