Molland

Hidden away in a maze of lanes skittering across the foothills of Exmoor, Molland is one of Devon’s ‘must-visit’ villages for anyone interested in wonderfully unspoilt churches. Following the sale of the village in the early 1600s, St Mary’s Church stood within the estates of the Courtenay family. During and following the Commonwealth years, the Courtenays remained staunch Catholics and showed no interest in restoring or modernising the Protestant parish church. So today you will still find a Georgian screen and tiers of box-pews, whitewashed walls, an elaborate three-decker pulpit crowned by a trumpeting angel and a colourful Royal Arms blazoned with the name of its painter, Rowlands. Despite their Catholic principles, three late 17th and early 18th-century members of the Courtenay family are commemorated by some typically flamboyant monuments of the time. Also within Molland parish lies Great Champson, the farm where in the 18th century the Quartly family introduced and developed their celebrated breed of red North Devon cattle.