Congregational Church, Beer, Devon

 

Situated on Fore Street in the lovely village of Beer, the Congregational Church was opened in 1856. It has been enlarged twice for growing congregations, once in 1880 then again in 1920. 

This wasn't particularly on my radar but, after taking photos of the cemetery and its chapel in 2017, I walked past and noticed that it had been decked out for Harvest Festival. So I decided to go in and have a look.

As it happened, 'decked out' was right, as it was specifically for the annual Fisherman's Harvest of the Sea Service. I hadn't heard of this before but it brings together both fishing communities of Beer and Brixham, and has been a continual event since 1946.

 

As a centrepiece where the altar would normally be is this rather nifty display of a small boat with some of the fishing accroutements, such as the yellow oilskin coat and old style of floats, etc.

The church itself is fairly plain but has some rather nice details. Looking back down the aisle towards the entrance, there's a balcony for extra seating with a view of the attractive windows on the front of the building.

The clock on the balcony, above, and below is a transom window above the entrance door from the vestibule.

The wording on the leaded glass says 'He is risen'.

I braved going up to the balcony. It was rather steep and when I leaned back slightly to take a photo of the windows I almost fell backwards because of my backpack. Considering I was right in front of the low parapet it didn't help my acute acrophobia! However, I managed to save myself and take a few more photos leaning well away from the edge.

The centrepiece as seen from above with the fishnets stretched above the pews from side to side.

Although there is very little information about the church, an interesting snippet is that of the organ. The very first Wurlitzer organ to come from the US, this arrived in Britain in 1924, and was first installed in the Picture House - a cinema in Walsall, Staffordshire. It was later sold and spent time in private ownership before being installed in this church in 1957, where it is used for church services and concerts.

I wondered where the organ was as I hadn't seen it. Expecting something large and majestic, I finally discovered that this particular type of Wurlitzer is very small and that it's the light wood instrument on the right side of the platform.

It was nice to be able to see the high windows from the balcony. I don't know why but I have nine photos of these windows, some with a small amount of the netting and some with a lot, lol. I was probably overcompensating for being up high and wanted to get as much as possible while I had the opportunity.

I took the next two going back down the stairs, which I rather liked the look of with the diffused light coming from the above window.

And a final look outside at the frontage, seeing the full length of those fabulous Gothic style windows and the stone rubble wall. I think the quoins and surrounds may be of Beer Limestone. The glass panes look coloured from outside but they are quite plain and light up the interior beautifully. Altogether an unexpected but enjoyable visit. :)

And that's about it. Next up will be Pump Farm, consisting of some interesting farm buildings belonging to a Devon Longhouse farmhouse. I've already completed a fair amount so that shouldn't take too long to finish, barring accidents or too much nice weather ;)

Cheers until next time. :)