In Upton Pyne, history stretches from Bronze Age burial mounds to a war memorial unveiled in 1920. Medieval route history, church architecture and the St Boniface Way add to the picture. When planning a stay, you can choose between archaeological traces, historic buildings and a route connected to the landscape, each offering a different focus.
Church and Architecture
You can reach the Church of Our Lady from the main road via an open, paved area called The Causeway. The church is open daily from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Contact the Churchwarden before your visit to make sure the church is open.
Figures of the four Evangelists stand beneath the corner battlements on the church tower. This is a distinctive detail of the tower’s architecture. It adds a specific feature to the history of the church building, one to look out for when viewing the tower.
Wayside Cross and Remembrance
Pynes Cross is a medieval wayside cross north of the River Exe, beside an old footpath. The path next to the cross remains a public footpath. The cross probably marked a meeting point on local routes in the late Middle Ages. This interpretation is only a possibility; the precise historical point of reference is therefore a presumed meeting place, not a definitively established function.
The Upton Pyne War Memorial was unveiled on 24 October 1920. It commemorates 16 members of the local community who died in the First World War. The cross and the memorial represent different historical associations: Pynes Cross is linked to a probable medieval function on a route, while the memorial commemorates those who fell in the First World War.
Bronze Age Burial Mounds
The Upton Pyne barrow group comprises more than 30 recorded Bronze Age burial mounds. Three individual mounds can be distinguished by their particular features. The Bowl barrow 280m NNE of Starved Oak Cross is low; burial deposits are likely to survive beneath the surface. The visible profile of the Bowl barrow 220m WSW of Starved Oak Cross is among the best preserved in the group. The Bowl barrow 400m WSW of Starved Oak Cross is among the largest burial mounds in the group.
The three mounds therefore each highlight a different aspect: possible burial deposits beneath the surface, preservation of the visible profile and size. Together with the War Memorial, they span a broad period from the Bronze Age to the commemoration of events of the 20th century.
Pynes and the Terraced Gardens
Pynes is a distinguished red-brick manor house built by Hugh Stafford around 1700. Formal terraced gardens lie to the south of the house. The date of construction, material and formal design of the terraces give this topic a different focus from the wayside crosses and memorial sites: here, architecture and garden design take centre stage.
Stages of the St Boniface Way
The St Boniface Way offers a distinct route connection to Upton Pyne. Stage 4 runs from Upton Pyne to Mary Harris Chapel at the University of Exeter. The route passes through fields, alongside rivers and along a railway line. Here, landscape features shape the route description, rather than individual monuments or architectural details.
Stage 4A runs from Upton Pyne via the Cowley Bridge route to the University of Exeter. The route description warns that this option involves walking along roads and includes a short section without a footpath. The two stages therefore differ in the specific features mentioned: Stage 4 is described in terms of fields, rivers and a railway line, while for planning Stage 4A, the warnings about walking along roads and the lack of a footpath are relevant.
Discover more destinations: Little Torrington, Hemyock, Combe Martin, North Bovey, Modbury, Littleham, Ilsington, Tawstock.
For the wider travel overview: Devon.
