The old church at St Mary Church, north of Torquay, was rebuilt in Early Decorated style; and in 1871 a tower was erected as a memorial to Dr Phillpotts, bishop of Exeter, who with his wife is buried in the churchyard.
When later in the same year, however, Henry Phillpotts, bishop of Exeter, died, the prime minister turned again to Temple, and he accepted the bishopric of that city so dear to him from boyhood, and left Rugby for a home amongst his own people.
Though accused of avarice and pluralism, Phillpotts was generous in his gifts to the church, founding the theological college at Exeter and spending large sums on the restoration of the cathedral.
In the well-known "Gorham case" 1 he came into 1 George Cornelius Gorham (1787-1857) was refused institution by Bishop Phillpotts because of his Calvinistic views on baptismal regeneration.