St John's Church History

C19 First Preacher in Prison!

In early 1830s Bridgetown expanded as a bourgeois suburb of Totnes and in 1832 the eleventh Duke of Somerset, Edward Adolphus Seymour, built the chapel of ease to St Mary’s, Berry Pomeroy  at a cost of £7,000. It had galleries and seated seven hundred worshippers.The Duke appointed the Revd James Shore, a young radical preacher to be curate. He drew crowds of dissenters to hear his sermons. However, when a new vicar of Berry Pomeroy was appointed in 1841 Shore’s licence was not renewed and a triangular paper chase developed between the Tractarian Bishop of Exeter, Henry Philpotts, the Duke and the Preacher which eventually resulted the chapel being closed in 1843 for five months. Seven hundred parishioners signed a petition and in 1844 the church was re-opened as the first Independent Free Churchin England. Things got more complicated however and Shore was arrested for preaching without a licence while in London and was imprisoned in Exeter gaol for three months. Subscriptions were raised by supporters in London and Totnes to pay his legal debts to the Bishop and Shore returned to Bridgetown to continue his popular ministry until 1862. Shore moved to Buxton to develop the hydrotherapy business there but was sadly killed in a fall from his horse in 1874. He and his family are buried in Bridgetown cemetery.
In 1869 the church returned to Church of England and then was refurbished in a more ornate style with a screen and fancier pulpit. It was finally consecrated in 1888.

C20 fire breaks out!

The church continued with a loyal band of hard working fund raising ladies and a popular Sunday school in the school rooms but was damp and huge to heat.
On the morning of July 9th 1976 fire broke out by arson gutting the whole inside. Over the next four years insurance claims and  hard work fundraising resulted in the church being rebuilt  with a more modern and flexible worship area  with hall and rooms for community use and was re-consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1980. With the advent of the Revd Roy Harris the church had partnered  St Mary’s in Totnes but developed its own St John's style of friendly, informal and flexible style of worship also attracting worshippers from a non-conformist background.

More information from

History of St Johns Church Bridgetown by Joy Hanson 2006

The Buxton Hydro by Peter Lomas 2007 Axbridge Press Country books - detailed history of James Shore

Totnes Museum study centre

Totnes Image Bank