The Church is one of the focal points in Manaton, occupying a prominent site in the upper part of the village on the north side of the village gree. Lying in the lee of Manaton Rocks and thus sheltered from the north, to the south the view is across to Hayne Down and Bowerman’s Nose, a marvellous vista of the moor as you leave out of the south porch.
The oldest parts of the present granite-built church are the nave and chancel built early in the fifteenth century and later that century were added the north and south aisles, with the tower also being built then or at least soon after.
THE ROOD SCREEN
For the first 150 years or so of the present church, Catholicism prevailed, and during this time, around AD1500, the rood screen was built, with its Tudar Rose and Fleur de Lis decorations, commemorating many Christian saints and martyrs. When the Reformation came to England towards the middle of the sixteenth century a decree from the Privy Council in 1548 ordered all superstitious images to be taken down or defaced. It was almost certainly at this time that all the figures on the screen were defaced and the statues on the top removed.
St.Winifred’s is adorned with five stained glass windows. At the west end of the church stands a tower, 76 feet high and about 500 years old. The tower clock,installed in 1934 in memory of Charlotte Kitson, strikes every hour and can be heard in all parts of the village. For many years the tower suffered from damp and in 1931 a fund was started to provide a rendering for the whole tower and the Western end of the south wall.
Much older than the clock and even more audible is the set of bells, housed within the tower. In fact in the set of six bells there are three which are as old as or older than the tower itself. In 1934 all the bells were taken down, repaired, retuned and rehung on strengthened frames – a very necessary operation considering the bells together weigh 33 cwt.3qtr.11lbs!
With bells go bell-ringers, practising an ancient and traditional skill, proclaiming imminent services at the church as well as marking times of celebration and, with muffled peal, sadness. As far as we are able to tell a local team of bell ringers has existed without interruption and peals have been regularly rung.
THE CHURCHYARD
The interest in St.Winefred’s, however, lies not only in the building and its interior but in the churchyard and the surrounds of the church. Approaching from the Green, one passes through the lychgate just in front of the flagstaff given in memory of Brigadier Welchman stands the village war memorial erected in 1921 to commemorate originally thodse who fell in the Great War. Later were added the names of those who fell in the 1939-45 war – together including names from many well-known local families. There, in the shadow of the ancient church, those who gave their lives in the two world wars are remembered annually early in November at the service of Remembrance, led by the local branch of the British Legion, at which a roll of honour is read and a wreath is laid at the foot of the War Memorial.
THE MANATON CHURCHYARD CROSS
The cross provides every Dartmoor Guide with a good tale. The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould wrote in "A Book of Dartmoor", published in 1900:
"In the churchyard was a fine granite cross. A former rector, the Reverend C.Carwithen, wantonly destroyed it in the night. The people had been wont at a funeral to carry the corpse the way of the sun thrice round the cross before internment. He preached against the custom ineffectually, so he secretly smashed the cross.”
In Order to locate the Geocache you need to collect the following information located at the Waypoints.
Point 1
Anna Germon May 11 19A9 Aged 6B
Also
Mark B Germon October 18 19C6 Aged DE
Point 2
William Winsor December 30 186F Aged 69
Also
Sarah Ann Winsor July 5 1854 Aged GH
All you need to do now is to do some simle sums to find the final location
N 50° 36.(D+A)(H+F)(D-C) W 003° 46.(A+G-H)(B-G)(E+G)
VERY MANY CONGRATULATIONS TO TOUCAN 1967 ON YOUR FTF
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