After our somewhat lengthy journeys around parts of the West Country over the past few months, let us return nearer home as we visit the church of St Nicholas, Steventon.  If you are a Jane Austen fan you cannot afford to miss visiting this church.

The first thing that strikes you when visiting this church is the magnificent tower, which stands over 100 feet high.  It was completed by 1350 and is one of the most beautiful medieval church towers in North Devon. 

This church is well worth visiting if you are in North Devon.  It is a large building with plenty of history.  In 1645, during the battle of Torrington, the biggest battle ever fought in Devon, Fairfax and Cromwell defeated the Royalist army.  The Royalists, who held the town, had stored 80 barrels of gunpowder in the church.  The Roundheads, later looking for a suitable place for their prisoners, shut them in the church.  Somehow the gunpowder ignited and blew up most of the church, resulting in a great loss of life.  Outside the church door is a long cobbled mound, and this covers a mass grave.  As you stroll around the churchyard you can see many quaint epitaphs.

St Nicholas, Abbotsbury, Dorset was built in the late 14th, early 15th century.  The oldest parts of the building are the tower and the north wall.  The flat ceiling of the nave dates from the early 19th century when the west gallery and a north gallery were built.  The north gallery was removed in 1885 but the entrance is still visible outside on the north wall.  The tower contains six bells dating from 1636 to 1773.  In the porch can be seen an effigy of an early abbot.