Our Lady of the Assumption & St Mary Magdalene, Tavistock

Introduction

Our Lady of the Assumption & St Mary Magdalene in Tavistock, within the Diocese of Plymouth, was designed by Henry Clutton in 1865 as a gift from the Duke of Bedford.

History

The church was formerly known as Fitsford Church. In 2008 a structural survey found the building sound, but the parish raised £70,000 for gutter and drain repairs and £15,000 for a ramp.

In 2009 a diocesan survey with English Heritage confirmed the building was sound but needed remedial work, especially to replace collapsed Victorian drains, with an estimate of £60,000. The church has a stone circular lectern with a pattern of intersecting circles. The church has a porch with an iron gate of intersecting circles. On Ascension Day 1951, the church became the property of the Catholic Diocese of Plymouth.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of local Hurdwick ashlar with contrasting limestone dressings, Cornish slate roofs, and selected granite from local quarries. The building is in an Italianate manner with a tall almost-detached tower on the north side, under which is the principal entrance, and a second more ornate entrance on the south side for the Dukes of Bedford.

The building consists of a nave with a lower chancel, clerestory, and tower with spire. The nave has five round-headed arches.

The detailing of the church is a mixture of Romanesque arcading and Gothic capitals. The church has an important hillside position.

The connection from the church to the main sewer in the Callington Road was completed in June 2013; and the lavatory and hand basin facilities were installed. In the east wall of the sanctuary are three stained glass windows erected on 28 February 1912 by the children of Sarah Ann Trist in her memory. At the west end of the church is a rose window with clear glass. The reredos, restored in the early 1900s, is of massive plain English oak framework with deeply cut diaper panels, the four central panels arranged to form a cross.

The reredos framework carries a battlemented, richly carved and moulded canopy forming an arcade of four semi-circular arches. The Crucifix high on the east wall of the Sanctuary was donated by the Bridgetinnes of South Brent and is believed to have been carved in Portugal after 1594. A bell was cast for the church in 1867 by Taylors, measuring 48 5/8 inches in diameter and weighing 19cwt 3qr 14lb, hung approximately 60 feet high in the tower.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish runs a First Holy Communion course during term-time between October and May for children in Year 3 and above, with children's sessions led by catechists and parents by the priest. The parish runs a Confirmation programme between October and Eastertide most years.