Church of St. Gregory

Church of St. Gregory

This parish church dates from the late 15th and early 16th centuries, with the west tower built during this period. The remainder of the building was rebuilt in 1881 by Ashworth. The tower is constructed of dressed stone, whilst the rest of the church is built of snecked rubble with ashlar dressings. The roofs are covered with slate and feature crested ridge tiles with coped gable ends. Apex gablets crowned with crosses are present above the west tower, nave, chancel and south aisle.

The three-stage west tower displays a crenellated parapet with crocketted pinnacles surmounted by crosses. Diagonal buttresses with offsets rise up the tower face. Bell-openings on each side consist of two four-centred arched lights with hoodmoulds and louvres. A single trefoil-headed light with a hoodmould featuring returned ends appears on the south side of the second stage. The 19th-century three-light west window contains intersecting tracery and sits above a four-centred arched west doorway with rough stone voussoirs. The doorway features a hoodmould decorated with rosette motifs around the intrados, and a hollow-moulded surround. A 19th-century plank door with cover strips and strap hinges closes the entrance. Four slit windows light the integral stair turret on the north side.

The south aisle has a single trefoil-headed light at its west end. Three buttresses with offsets, the easternmost set diagonally, project from the south side. Two two-light and one three-light pointed arched windows in Perpendicular style pierce the walls. All openings on the south and east sides bear hoodmoulds enriched with human head corbels.

A south porch with raised parapet and moulded kneelers projects from the south wall. Its pointed arched doorway is moulded and flanked by nookshafts with lipped capitals. Above the doorway sits a cusped-headed niche containing a stone carving of an episcopal figure. The porch is roofed with archbraced timbers and features a crenellated wall-plate. The pointed arched south doorway beyond has a moulded surround and is hung with a plank door fitted with cover strips and strap hinges.

Interior

The interior is rich in ecclesiastical detail. A pointed double-chamfered tower arch opens into the nave. A three-bay arcade with pointed segmental arches separates the nave from the south aisle. The arcade piers are moulded in Pevsner 'B-type' form and topped with foliated capitals. The nave roof is decorated with archbraced timbers of seven trusses, featuring two tiers of purlins and a crenellated wall-plate. Alternate trusses carry plain moulded corbels from which carved wooden angels spring at the base of each brace.

The north aisle roof is more elaborate, featuring seven trusses beneath crenellated wall-plates. Alternate trusses incorporate king-posts with crenellations to the tie-beams. These trusses are suspended from central pendants with cusped bracing to the soffits of the principals and raking struts, which corbel out with cusped bracing to the wall posts. The remaining trusses are similarly decorated but lack king-posts.

The chancel is ceiled in waggon style with a slight pointing to the arch. Each panel contains diagonal struts with carved foliated designs at the intersections. A pointed chancel arch with moulded intrados rests on piers displaying three engaged shafts with lipped capitals. Pointed segmental arches open on either side of the chancel; the southern arch features an inner arch supported on nookshafts with floriated capitals.

A carved wooden reredos with blind cusped-headed panels ornaments the east wall, each panel containing carved wooden symbols. Decorative wrought iron brackets support the communion rails. A 19th-century polygonal pulpit stands in the nave. The pews feature blind ogee-arched panels with decorative spandrels to the bench ends. An octagonal font with quatrefoil panels to the bowl and cusped-headed panels to the stem completes the furnishings.

The painted Royal Arms at the west end of the south aisle are dated 1788. Wall monuments include a chancel north side memorial to Charles Cooke, rector died 1685, featuring an oval medallion with cherubs' heads above and a small skull below. Two monuments on the south wall of the south aisle commemorate Thomas Acland of Combe, died 1633, with scrolls flanking a slate plaque, fleur-de-lis pendant, and heraldic shield above, and James Acland, died 1655, with a semi-circular headed plaque, shield above, painted roundels to each side, and a bust below, all with encircling inscriptions.

An east window with stained glass dated 1880 lights the chancel. The chancel floor is laid with flags, whilst decorative patterned tiles cover the remainder of the floor.