The parish church of St John the Evangelist is the second church to bear that name, not only in Ivybridge but in the same churchyard.
The foundations of the old chapel of St John can still be seen just above ground level to the right of the gates of the churchyard, on a large area of grass devoid of graves. Ashes from cremations are located in this portion and the stones do not follow straight lines, a consequence of having to avoid the foundations. The original entrance gates are still in evidence in the south east corner.
The original chapel of ease, a building of Georgian architecture, was built in 1789 at a cost of £800 on ground donated by Sir Frederick L. Rogers. Such chapels provided more accessible places of worship where existing parish churches were far away. The nearest parish churches would have entailed a walk of around 3 miles.
Later, in 1835 the chapel was enlarged to meet the needs of the growing population. The chapel, together with the burial ground, was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Exeter in October 1835 and officially recognised by the Diocesan Authorities. The first baptism took place on 11 October 1835 and the first burial on 14 January the following year. In 1836 the Ecclesiastical District of Ivybridge was formed from parts of the neighbouring parishes. The first marriage took place on 17 December 1837. From April 1838, it was decreed that the chapel should henceforth be known as the Church of St. John the Evangelist.
Due to the very low remuneration offered, Ivybridge had a series of curates during the ensuing period but the arrival of Rev. George William Anstiss in 1872 marked a period of stability. The Rev Anstiss inherited a well-appointed parsonage which had been built when Rev. Richard Pering Cornish was curate between the years 1855 and 1862. With initial financial assistance from William Cotton and built on land donated by Lady Blachford, Rev. Cornish went on to substantially improve the property, spending around £7,000, ‘the house and surrounding grounds displaying no ordinary taste’. When he resigned from his position, he was under obligation to sacrifice the property as well. George Anstiss was to remain in the village for the next 37 years, living in Station Road. Only infirmity in old age forced him to retire on 14 October 1909 and he sadly died less than a year later in August 1910.
The Rev. Anstiss realised that the church structure was in a poor state of repair, desperately needing a new roof, whilst the congregation believed the chapel was unsuitable for enlargement to meet the demands of the increasing population. With the strenuous efforts of Rev. Anstiss, together with the support of Lord Blachford, the Lord of the Manor, a fund was opened to finance the building of a new parish church. By 1881, with the church building fund reaching £2,000, work commenced just west of the old church. The foundation stone was laid by Lord Blachford on 8th June with the assistance of the architect Mr Hine and the builder Mr Finch. Mr Hine deposited a bottle containing the Western Morning News and the Western Daily Mercury and the order of that day’s service in a cavity under the stone. Lord Blachford using a specially inscribed trowel to mark the occasion, spread a quantity of mortar and lowered the foundation stone into place.
He then proceeded in making a speech which helps to paint a picture of Ivybridge at the time
‘ … it gives me very great pleasure to be here on this occasion, and to take part in this ceremony. I feel it is the first step towards furnishing you with a building more graceful and more appropriate for the services of our Church than that building which we have just left. I do not doubt that some of you are not without affection for the unpretending, and certainly ungainly building, which falls somewhat short of what we have learnt to think appropriate for the services of our Church … Some of you may remember, or there must be those in the village who remember, what this place was fifty or sixty years ago. It then, at the beginning of the century, consisted of a gentleman’s house, an hotel, a comparatively small paper mill, one or two shops, and a few cottages. It is now very much changed … First, the manufactures have increased; next, the railway came our way, and that has brought fresh residents; villas have arisen; and in all respects the village has increased in prosperity and in comfort. No one, I think, who has known it for more than twenty years will fail to see the difference the comparatively poor street which was then the main street of Ivybridge, and the cheerful shops and the pleasant lodging-houses and cottages which now compose it. Well, since that time, or rather during that time, there has happily been the same progress in matters affecting the moral and spiritual welfare of the place. First, we had the church we see before us, not beautiful, it is true, nor yet commodious, but still a church. Then you had a clergyman slightly paid or almost unpaid; in fact, so small was the remuneration that it was almost impossible to find any person who would accept the position. Then by the liberality of a gentleman whom you remember – Mr Cotton – an endowment was provided for the church; then came the school; then a parsonage, and now, at last, I am happy to think you have followed the example of the Weslayan Methodists, who have shown you the way in this matter in erecting a building more suitable to the worship of God … ’
Lord Blachford died in 1889 and a brass plaque in his memory can be found on the wall at the south end of the chapel porch.
George Anstiss was born in 1834. He was ordained deacon in 1864 and priest in 1866. He became curate at several places before finally making his home in Ivybridge as the vicar. He married Ellen, the daughter of Rev. G. Y. Osborne in 1881 and had a son named Cecil.
During this time he served on the School Board and ‘there was no institution or society in the place, whether it was for cricket or football, musical, educational, or social, in which he did not take a leading part, and he always found a ready help-meet in Mrs. Anstiss, whose Girls’ Friendly Society and Mothers’ Union were a great success.’
Whilst he will always be remembered for his strenuous efforts in establishing the new Church, he was also instrumental in the building of the parish room close to the church, thanks largely to the generosity of John Bayly of Highlands, the landowner.
‘He had no great gift of eloquence or emotional power but he was a faithful, plodding minister of the Church of England, who pursued the via media with a happy combination of both suaviter in modo and fortiter in re.’
via media: (latin) a middle way or compromise between extremes; suaviter in modo, fortiter in re: (latin) gently in manner, firmly in action.
A memorial brass and cross donated by Mrs Anstiss in memory of the Reverend G Anstiss is located on the wall near the altar rail.