St Mary’s, Oare

St Mary’s, Oare in the lovely Doone Valley, Exmoor, is a simple, unadorned, little church, dating from the 15th century. Also known as “the Lorna Doone Church”, its claim to fame is as the setting for the fictional wedding of the beautiful Lorna Doone with local honest farmer Jan Ridd in RD Blackmore’s Victorian novel, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor, published in 1869. The story is a dramatic one, with a backdrop of a historical feud and the Monmouth Rebellion of the 17th century. Richard Dodderidge Blackmore (1825-1900) was inspired by the scenery and local legends of the area, which he knew and grew to love because his grandfather was rector of Oare between 1809-1842). There is a memorial to the author in the church, which also contains a Norman font on an 18th century base and a curious medieval piscina shaped as a human head held in a pair of hands, which is said to represent St Decuman, a 7th century Celtic saint.