Untold Agatha Christie story shines light on Brixham church

The untold story of Dame Agatha Christie and a precious window at a Torbay church has been told for the first time.

Dame Agatha was a regular worshipper at the St Mary the Virgin Church at Churston Ferrers near Brixham, over  many  years, living and  holidaying  at her nearby home, Greenway,  in the  parish. 

As she sat in her  pew,  she  looked  at the  large  East window area  above the  main  altar and  longed  for something  more eye-catching  and helpful to worship. She particularly wanted something to attract and focus the mind for children and young people attending services. 

She was determined to have a stained-glass window to become a focus above the altar and set  about raising funds  for this work. 

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She wrote a short story to raise money and appointed a  Devon based stained glass window designer, James  Patterson,  to get the  project  under way.

She underwent several  obstacles to  get this work completed - initially her American publishers didn’t like the short story and the Bishop of Exeter didn’t like the Bible stories chosen to be depicted

But Agatha won her battles in both  cases and raised the £1,500 needed to  fund the  project. 

The beautiful stained-glass windows tell the story  of Jesus the  Good Shepherd and illustrate the  local  geography and economy  of the Churston area,  the  pocket  of countryside between Brixham and Paignton. The church  stands  in a beautiful location. 

This untold story was discovered for wider discourse  by Dr Sue Andrew of the  Devonshire Association and researched during 2023 for the Association and church.

Sue told the tale in the church as part of this year’s Agatha Christie Festival.