St Sidwell’s has two statues by world renowned sculptor Harry Hems. They were given to the church by Hems in 1888 to sit either side of the chancel arch. One depicts St Sidwella, Exeter’s patron saint, whilst the other is of St Boniface, another Devon saint. They were restored following a fundraising campaign in 2017 and are now on display in the community centre chapel.
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Harry Hems was a world-renowned architectural and ecclesiastical master sculptor and wood carver who ran his thriving business from a workshop on Longbrook Street and was a larger-than-life character in the parish of St Sidwell’s. Carver not Cutler Born in London in 1842, the son of an ironmonger and cutler, he began his working life as a cutler. It evidently wasn’t the career he had in mind so he served an apprenticeship to a wood-carver in Sheffield, before seeking inspiration in Italy. After his travels ended badly (he was arrested as a spy) he returned to England penniless and found
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