John Hayward
Illustration — The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, designed by John Hayward John Hayward (1807–1891) was a Gothic Revival architect based in Exeter, Devon, who gained the reputation as "the senior architect in the west of England".
John Hayward

John Hayward · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection · Public Domain Mark
- Died
- 1891
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- architect
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Illustration — The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, designed by John Hayward John Hayward (1807–1891) was a Gothic Revival architect based in Exeter, Devon, who gained the reputation as "the senior architect in the west of England".
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John Hayward was an architect of United Kingdom nationality. Born in 1808. Death followed in 1891.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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In this article
Biography
Biography
John Hayward was born in London on 26 September 1807, the son of a 'house and ornament painter', John Pearson Hayward and Frances Barry and a nephew of Sir Charles Barry, the designer of the Palace of Westminster, with whom he served as pupil. He was an accomplished painter and draughtsman; by 1826, he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy and, by 1834, he had left Barry and set up practice in Cathedral Yard, Exeter, Devon. Hayward was official architect of The Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society, which meant that all new designs for the churches in the Exeter Diocese passed through him for approval, and a member of Cambridge Camden Society, later The Ecclesiological Society. So popular was his work on local churches that St Andrew's, Exwick was described by The Ecclesiologist in July 1842, as the "best specimen of modern church we have yet seen." This accolade soon led to further work; in Scotland, Lady Cecil Chetwynd-Talbot, the Marchioness of Lothian, commissioned Hayward to design St John's Church, Jedburgh in 1844, and in Oxfordshire he designed St. James' Church in Little Milton, Oxfordshire, to which he added the west tower in 1861. But probably his most famous design was for The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. which opened in 1868 as a practical memorial to Prince Albert, and is the largest museum in the city. Whilst many of his designs were for religious use, he also designed schools and worked on other buildings, including The Hall, Pembroke College, Oxford, (1844) which Nikolaus Pevsner described as "the most ambitious of all halls except Wolsey's" at Christ Church College, and Exeter Prison on New North Road, Exeter, which was based upon the plans of the new model prison at Pentonville. Hayward died on 7 May 1891. His son, Pearson Barry Hayward, worked under him, but died before his father in 1888; their practice was known as Messrs Hayward & Son.
Work
Work
Work, including restoration, undertaken by John Hayward and his practice includes:
In Cornwall
In Cornwall
• All Saints, Herodsfoot • All Saints, Tuckingmill, Camborne • Holy Trinity, Carnmenellis • St Cleder, St Clether
In Devon
In Devon
• St Andrew, Exwick • St Mary, Bickleigh • St Mary, Bicton • St Michael, Sowton • St Mark, Dawlish • St David, Exeter • St Mary Arches, Exeter • St Andrew, Halberton • St Gregory, Harpford • St John the Baptist, Holcombe Burnell • St Thomas of Canterbury, Kingswear • St Mary Magdalene, Monkton • St Michael, Mumsbury • St Michael, Beer • St Mary, Appledore, Northam • St Mary, Rockbeare • St Mary, Whimple • St Mary the Virgin, Woolfardisworthy, Mid Devon • St Swithun, Sandford • St Peter, Uplowman • St Thomas the Apostle, Exeter • St John The Evangelist, Tipton St John • Holy Trinity, Ilfracombe • St Philip and St James, Ilfracombe • Paschoe House, Crediton • All Saints, Okehampton • St Bridget, Bridestowe • Holy Trinity, Buckfastleigh • Holy Trinity, Burrington • St Eustachius' Church, Tavistock • St Peter, Twitchen • St Mary, Uffculme • Crediton Parish Church • St Michael and All Angels, Alphington • St Luke's College, Exeter University • The Exeter Diocesan Training School, now part of St. Luke's Campus • All Hallows on the Wall, Exeter (since demolished) • Queen Elizabeth School, Crediton • Hele's School, Exeter • The New Buildings, Blundell's School, Tiverton • Blundell's School chapel, Tiverton • The High School for Girls, Exeter. Renamed in 1912 as The Maynard School. • All Saints chapel, Bradfield, Uffculme • The Board School, Dawlish • Holcombe Court, Holcombe Rogus • The Halford Wing, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Southernhay, Exeter, Devon • Ashbury House, Ashbury, Devon (since demolished).
In Jersey
In Jersey
• St Mark, Saint Helier • St Luke, Saint Saviour • St George, Saint Ouen • St Ouen, St Ouen • Victoria College, St Helier • Natwest Bank, Library Place, St Helier
Elsewhere
Elsewhere
• St Michael, Milverton, Somerset • St Peter, Walgrave, Northamptonshire • St James, Little Milton, Oxfordshire • St. John, Jedburgh, Scottish Borders • The Hall, Pembroke College, Oxford • The New Buildings of 1846 (since renamed the Robert Stevens building), Pembroke College, Oxford
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Victoria College at St Helier, Jersey • Illustration — Bank building in Library Place, Saint Helier, Jersey – built in 1873 by John Hayward for Jersey Banking Company • Illustration — Blundell's School new buildings completed in 1882 • Illustration — The Hall, Chapel Quad, Pembroke College, Oxford • Illustration — St Mary, Appledore, Devon • Illustration — All Saints at Herodsfoot, Cornwall • Illustration — St. St Thomas of Canterbury, Kingswear, Devon • Illustration — North Cloisters, St Luke's Campus • Illustration — Bradfield House, the South front and service wing, added by Hayward in the 1860s • Illustration — Holcombe Court, the North and West fronts were added by Hayward in 1863. • Illustration — St Mary, Bicton, Devon. Built for the Rolle family in 1850. • Illustration — St James' Little Milton, Oxfordshire. • Illustration — St Thomas the Apostle, St Thomas, Exeter
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Manchester University Press. The Victorian Church: Architecture and Society. 1995. 9780719040207.
- 2.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com. HAW-HEL.
- 3.Exeter Diocesan Architectural and Archaeological Society, Exeter, England. Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society. 4. 103. 1853.
- 4.St Andrew's Church - Exwick. Exeter Memories. 31 July 2011.
- 5.Stanton, P.B. The Gothic Revival and American Church Architecture: An Episode in Taste, 1840–1856. Johns Hopkins University Press. 128. 1997. 9780801856228.
- 6.Jedburgh, The Pleasance, St John The Evangelist's Episcopal Church ScotlandsPlaces. scotlandsplaces.gov.uk.
- 7.About RAMM | RAMM, Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery.
- 8.A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3, the University of Oxford. British History Online. 288–297. 1854.
- 9.viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk. ViewFinder – Image Details.
- 10.Devon County Prison. Exeter Memories.
- 11.David Cornforth. Exeter Memories – Newtown School.
- 12.The Builder. 1888.
- 13.herodsfoot-online.co.uk. Our Church.
- 14.Good Stuff. Church of St Mary – Bickleigh – Devon – England | British Listed Buildings. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
- 15.Good Stuff. Church of St Mary – Bicton – Devon – England | British Listed Buildings. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
- 16.Good Stuff. Church of St Michael – Beer – Devon – England | British Listed Buildings. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
- 17.St Thomas the Apostle. 1169954.
- 18.A Church Near You. St John the Evangelist, Tipton St. John – Devon | Diocese of Exeter. achurchnearyou.com.
- 19.1208207. The Parish Church of Holy Trinity, Ilfracombe.
- 20.Good Stuff. Parish Church of Saint Philip and St James – Ilfracombe – Devon – England | British Listed Buildings. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
- 21.Paschoe House country house.
- 22.Tavistock. Dorset County Chronicle. 26 June 1845.
- 23.stmarysuffculme.org.uk. Church History – St Mary's Uffculme.
- 24.A Short History. Crediton Parish Church.
- 25.David Cornforth. Exeter Memories – St Michael's, Alphington. exetermemories.co.uk.
- 26.University of Exeter. Graduate School of Education.
- 27.BBC. BBC – Devon – Discover Devon – Home Town – Crediton.
- 28.Former Hele's School. Historic England.
- 29.Classic View. Blundell's Diary. 2008.
- 30.The British architect: a journal of architecture and the accessory arts, Volume 30
- 31.Bradfield House, Uffculme. Historic England.
- 32.devonheritage.org. Dawlish in White's Directory of 1878.
- 33.The Building News and Engineering Journal. 1891.
- 34.Lemprière, R. Buildings and Memorials of the Channel Islands. Hale. 1980. 9780709181361.
- 35.http://www.churchplansonline.org/retrieve_results.asp?search_args=x%3DMILVERTON%7Cl%3DMILVERTON%7Cc%3DSomerset
- 36.sacred-destinations.com. Church of St James – Little Milton, England.
- 37.Yale University Press. Devon. 102. 1991. 9780300095968.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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