St. Sabinus' Church - Woolacombe
St. Sabinus' Church, Beach Road, Woolacombe
St. Sabinus’ Anglican Church is part of the Coast and 'Combe Mission Community together with the churches of St. Mary’s Mortehoe and St. Matthew’s Lee.
Woolacombe, a tiny hamlet until the mid-19th century, grew rapidly with the advent of mass tourism, on account of its glorious setting and superb beach, and by the early 20th century needed its own Anglican church.
St. Sabinus' was designed by W.D. Caroe, built of local red sandstone, and consecrated in 1912 - though the north wall was not completed till 1965, for lack of funds! Despite the legend of an Irish bishop shipwrecked in Morte Bay, depicted in one of the north windows, the dedication is almost certainly to the 5th-century Bishop of Canosa in Puglia, southern Italy. The interior is spacious, well-proportioned, and adaptable for all kinds of worship and social events. The church is open every day, all year round.
St. Sabinus' Church - interior
St. Sabinus' offers a warm welcome to our many seasonal visitors (as well as to locals!). Our regular Sunday service is Holy Communion at 10am but on the 4th Sunday each month we hold a lay-led service of Morning Worship. Every week our service is followed by a chance to meet over tea and coffee. At present we have no regular Sunday School, but there is a children's corner at the back of the church.
Every Wednesday, between 10.00 and 12.00, the Lower Room is the venue for our "Open Door" coffee morning and drop-in, for locals and visitors. Also on a Wednesday, at 12 noon, we hold a midweek Celtic-style Communion service which lasts about half an hour.
A reminder of our regular pattern of services:
Note that it is wise to check with the calendar on the right hand side of this screen (or lower down if viewed on a phone) for more information as there may be occasional changes that will not be shown below.
- Sunday: 10am Holy Communion (except 4th Sunday – 11am Morning Worship)
- Wednesday 12 noon Midweek Communion