St. Sidwell's Church, c.1829

A steel line engraving of St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter, Devon, engraved by W. H. Bond after a drawing by W. H. Bartlett, for Devonshire Illustrated, in a Series of Views of Cities, Towns, Public Buildings, Streets, Docks, Churches, Antiques, Abbeys, Picturesque Scenery, Castles, Seats of the Nobility, &c. &c., from original drawings by Thos. Allom & W.H. Bartlett & c. Engraved on steel by Heath Miller, Le Petit, Wallis & c. With Historical & Descriptive accounts by J. Britton & E.W. Brayley Esq.; Published by Fisher, Son & Co., London, 1829.

The image shows a line of figures in regency dress walking towards the side entrance of a Gothic Revival church with a tall spire. A graveyard can be seen in the foreground, and clouds behind. The text below reads "St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter."

A church of St. Sidwell's has been in place in Exeter since at least the Anglo Saxon period, and the edifice was a popular pilgrimage site before 1066. The church was substantially rebuilt in the 1430s, and consecrated by Bishop Edmund Lacy in 1437. The church tower was damaged during the Prayer Book, or "Western" Rebellion of 1549, when it was commandeered by rebels to hold their prisoners, including the father of Sir Walter Raleigh, who had purportedly criticised a woman for carrying a rosary. The church was repaired in 1605, and later survived the Civil War.

In 1812 the church was rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style by local architect William Burgess. Much of the fifteenth-century church, including the tower and the columns, were retained. Nonetheless, the nave was raised and the tower was covered in plaster and graced with a new octagonal spire in 1823. The architect and ecclesiastical sculptor Harry Hems (1842-1926) later enlarged the chancel and added stained-glass windows, as well as providing two statues of St. Sidwella and St. Boniface. Burgess' additions to the tower (the plaster coating and the octagonal spire) were also removed in the 1890s.

In May 1942 the tower took a direct hit during the Exeter Blitz. The church was left in ruins for many years before it was finally demolished. A new church was finally completed in 1958.

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