Ottery St Mary Church, c.1860, Ottery St Mary

Monochrome wash of Ottery St Mary Church, c.1860, Ottery St Mary, George Townsend

The parish church of St Mary’s in Ottery St Mary has close connections with Exeter Cathedral. It was consecrated in 1260 by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter and established as a collegiate foundation by Bishop Grandisson in the 1330’s. In the English Reformation of 1545 the College was dissolved and the building became the parish church. Townsend’s view shows the spire on the tower of the north transept and the west window of the Dorset Aisle in the Perpendicular gothic style of the 1520’s. The church contains many notable features including tombs of members of the Grandisson family, one of the oldest astronomical clocks in the country, and elaborate fan vaulting in the Dorset Aisle. This work is monochrome wash on paper, probably dates to the second half of the 19th century and is very typical of the work of this artist.

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