The church of St Mary the Virgin, consecrated 26 September 1328, is a building of stone in the decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 6 bells, 5 of which were cast by Thomas Bilbie in 1755 and a sixth added by the Upton Pyne Ringing Society in 1881; the fine reredos was erected as a memorial to the late Earl of Iddesleigh by the dowager countess, and encloses an ancient altar piece, representing the "Last Supper" and there is a carved pulpit and other works by Harry Hems of Exeter. In the church is a monument with recumbent effigy in armour to Edmund Larder, a former owner of Pynes dated 1611. Here are numerous tablets to the Stafford, Slanning and Northcote families.The church was thoroughly restored, new-roofed, reseated and an organ aisle added in 1874-75 from designs by Mr William White, architect, of London, at a total cost of £1920. A new organ was erected in 1896 at a cost of £100 in memory of the late Mr Noah England, for 40 years schoolmaster of Upton Pyne. The church afford 250 sittings.  The lych gate at the entrance of the churchyard was erected by Lady Northcote in 1875 and over the grave of the1st Earl of Iddesleigh is a memorial erected in 1890 and executed by Hems & Sons of Exeter. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1673; burials and marriages, 1688. The living is a rectory in the gift of the Earl of Iddesleigh and held since 1900 by the Rev, Arthur Hillyard MA of Pembroke College, Oxford.

The charities amount to £6 yearly.  The Upton Pyne Club, established in 1875 by the Rev. the Hon. J. Stafford Northcote, rector here from 1881-9 for the benefit of the working men of the village, comprises a reading room, and has also a small library; there are about 30 members, who pay a yearly subscription. A school library of about 120 volumes is maintained at the parsonage. A drinking fountain, with cattle trough, in the form of a granite obelisk, has been erected in the village in memory of the Hon. Hugh Oliver Northcote who died 30 March 1900 and of his daughter Cicely Julia Monica, who died 20 April 1904. It bears a suitable inscription and was unveiled by the Dowager Lady Iddesleigh on 16th December 1905.

Pynes, the seat of the Earl of Iddesleigh CB is a large and noble mansion, originally built from designs by Inigo Jones, and much enlarged in 1851. It stands on an eminence, commanding a view of the surrounding country, in the picturesque well-wooded park of 80 acres. The Earl is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is chiefly clay; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are grain. The area is 2425 acres of land and 21 of water, Rateable calue £6659. The population in 1911 was, ecclesiastical parish, 307, in the civil parish, including Cowley, 304.

SEXTON: William Vickery

POST & MONEY ORDER OFFICE:  William Vickery - sub- postmaster

PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (mixed) Archibald  E. Painter - Master; Mrs Painter - Mistress

POLICE STATION: George Perkins - Constable in charge

RESIDENTS

Iddesleigh, Earl of, CB; DI; JO, Pynes and Athenaeum Club, London.

Coleridge, James Duke Carmichael, Cox's Hill

Hillyard, Rev. Arthur, MA. the Parsonage

COMMERCIAL

Ayres, Sidney, gardener to the Earl of Iddesleigh, CB.

Balkwill, Akfred, dairyman, Little Ley

Bradford, John, thatcher

Castle, Mary (Mrs), farmer, Great Ley

Ellis, Joe, rate collector and clerk to parish council

Ellis, Richard, builder

Ellis, Richard, Three Horse Shoes Public House

Exeter Corporation, Waterworks Pumping Station,(Alexander Kneel - Manager)

Floyde, William Henry, shopkeeper

Hawkins, William farmer, Duryard Wood

Nicks, Mark, farmer, Stevenstone

Sharland, William, Pierces farm

Skinner, Richard, farmer, Beer Farm

Upton Pyne Club (Rev. Arthur Hillyard, President; A. E. Painter, Sec.)

Vickery, William, wheelwright, Post Office, The Myrtles

Webber, George, estate carpenter

Were, Thomas, Farmer, Turlake

Winson, John E., blacksmith

Yeo, John, estate mason, Pynes Lodge