Church Of St Gregory

Church of St Gregory

This parish church dates largely from the 1880s, though it retains significant medieval fabric. The late 15th-century tower is the most substantially intact element from the pre-Victorian period. The church was thoroughly renovated, if not rebuilt, in 1883 by the architects Haywood and Son. Both the 15th-century and 19th-century masonry consists of local stone rubble with Beerstone detailing. The roof is of red tiles with crested and pierced ridgetiles.

The layout follows Perpendicular church planning, but only the late 15th-century west tower remains essentially intact from that period. The nave with its south porch, the slightly lower and narrower chancel, and the north aisle appear to be predominantly 1883 work, though the arcade and east end of the aisle are late 14th-century. A vestry and organ loft on the north side of the chancel were newly built in 1883.

The west tower is of two stages, unbuttressed, with chamfered plinth, soffit-moulded dripcourses, and an embattled parapet. On the north side a semi-hexagonal stair turret projects, containing tiny slit windows, some shaped as quatrefoils, and rises above the main tower with its own embattled parapet. It is surmounted by a wrought iron weathercock, presumably 19th-century. The belfry window to the right of the turret has a flat-arched head with sunken spandrels. Similar two-light belfry windows appear on the other sides. The west doorway is a two-centred arch with moulded surround and contains a 19th-century plank door with studded coverstrips and plain strap hinges. The three-light window directly above has much-restored Perpendicular tracery and a moulded hood.

The exterior elsewhere shows only 1883 detailing. All gables have Beerstone kneelers, coping, and apex crosses. The south side of the nave projects slightly from the tower and contains three windows interrupted by the gabled south porch to the left of centre. Its two-centred outer arch has a moulded surround and a hoodmould with labels carved as a king's and bishop's head. The window to the left is two lights with an acutely pointed arch; the window to the right is three lights. Both have Perpendicular-style tracery and hoodmould with carved head labels. The right (east) end window is a small trefoil-headed lancet close to a buttress with weathered offsets marking the end of the nave. The south side of the chancel has two lancets either side of the priest's doorway, a two-centred arch containing a plank door, all with chamfered surrounds. The east end contains a large three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould without labels. On the north side is another lancet before the gable end of the vestry, which contains a doorway identical to the priest's door with an arch-headed window alongside containing Y-tracery. An octagonal chimney shaft rises from the outer corner. A single lancet appears on the north side of the aisle. The vestry projects slightly from the north aisle. The north side of the aisle contains three windows, all two-light with flat-arched heads and sunken spandrels; the west end window has a very low segmental pointed arch over three lights, like triple lancets, with sunk spandrels and moulded hood. Cast iron drainpipes are present throughout.

Interior

The porch has a tile floor and common rafter roof of 1883. The contemporary south doorway is a two-centred arch with chamfered surround and contains a plank door with ornate strap hinges.

All roofs are open 19th-century wagon roofs with moulded arch bracing to the main trusses, moulded purlins, and large carved bosses backed by pine boards. The tall tower arch is late 15th-century with chamfered surround; the soffit of the arch itself is lined in Beerstone with sunken trefoil-headed panels. The chancel arch is 19th-century, plain Beerstone with chamfered surround. The three-bay arcade is late 14th-century, carried on octagonal piers with plain soffit-chamfered caps. A contemporary three-light window with Perpendicular tracery at the east end of the aisle is now blocked by the 19th-century organ loft. A large Beerstone arch leads from the chancel to the organ loft, with a small two-centred arch doorway alongside to the vestry. The floors are of 19th-century tiles with encaustic tiles in the chancel, used increasingly towards the altar, which sits on a marble plinth containing panels of encaustic tiles. Either side are reset graveslabs of 17th-century rectors.

The chancel contains a 19th-century oak Gothic-style altar and similar carved oak reredos comprising a blind arcade on a marble shelf and flanked by original brass candleholders. A Beerstone piscina to the right is set in a trefoil-headed arch. The oak altar rails are 17th-century in style, with moulded rail on clustered shafts with moulded caps. 19th-century Gothic-style stalls and a similar oak octagonal pulpit with openwork quatrefoils in the panels are present. An attractive 19th-century brass lectern with twisted stem and scrolled brackets and 19th-century plain deal benches are also featured. A 19th-century Gothic-style panelled tower screen and a 17th-century oak chest with panelled front inscribed "GD 1662" complete the furnishings.

The font base is Norman. It has a 19th-century square bowl of Beerstone and four corner columns of marble, also contemporary, but the circular sandstone stem and moulded base are Norman.

Some plain 19th-century marble monuments are present. On the south side of the chancel a small Beerstone plaque inscribed with the sacred monogram and including the initials "IR" with the date 1603 was relocated from the gable of the porch before the 1883 restoration. Good Victorian stained glass is featured throughout, including a memorial window to Lydia Hoskin Pippin (died 1870) in the east window. The best examples are the Queen Victoria Jubilee window in the nave and two windows in the aisle. Painted arms of George IV in the tower are dated 1830. A painted board in the porch records a contribution towards the 1883 restoration.

The late 15th-century tower was the only part to survive the 1883 restoration substantially intact, although the arcade and east window of the north aisle are late 14th-century. The restoration was nevertheless competent, and the church provides an attractive centrepiece for the hamlet.