Sacred Heart Exeter
The Lady Altar was paid for by public subscriptions and inaugurated the 2nd of May of 1887 (on Whitsunday). Like the High Altar, it is also made of alabaster and marble, and designed by Rev. Alexander Scoles of Bridgwater.
The Lady Altar is decorated on the left with a scene of the marriage feast at Cana, and on the right with a scene of the Crucifixion. Note that the statue of Mary, holding the infant Jesus in the centre, is stepping on the serpent, referencing the prophecy of the Genesis 3:15, and symbolising her role in the victory over evil and sin.
The stone carvings at the base of the altar show the Annunciation in the centre, with the Assumption and Coronation of Mary on either side.
Plaque to “Edward Petre, Aviator” on the left wall of the Lady chapel. He was killed at Marske-by-the-Sea (Yorkshire) while flying a monoplane from Brooklands to Edinburgh. He was the son of Mr and Mrs Petre of “Tor Bryan”, Ingatestone, and a cousin of Baron Petre of Thorndon Hall, a family with Devon Connections. A subscription from parishioners and from the Petre family paid for new stalls, designed by Mr Edward Ware, and executed by Herbert E. Read of Sidwell St, installed in the Santuary in 1913.
Replica of the five wounds banner carried by the Catholics in the Western Rising of 1549. The 4th centenary of the Rising in 1949 was marked with a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Francis Grimshaw, 6th Bishop of Plymouth.