Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 20 October 2022 to correct a typo in the description and to reformat the text to current standards

SS 53 SE
7/80

GOODLEIGH
CHURCH CLOSE
Church of St. Gregory

(Formerly listed as GOODLEIGH Church of St. Gregory)

25.2.65

GV
II*

Parish Church, late C15, early C16 west tower, otherwise rebuilt 1881 by Ashworth. Tower of dressed stone, remainder snecked rubble with ashlar dressings. Slate roofs with crested ridge tiles, coped gable ends. Apex gablets surmounted by crosses west tower, nave, chancel and south aisle.

West tower of three stages. Crenellated parapet with crocketted pinnacles surmounted by crosses. Diagonal buttresses with offsets. Bell-openings on each side of two four-centred arched lights with hoodmoulds and louvres. Single trefoil-headed light with hoodmould with returned ends to second stage south-side. Pointed arched C19 three-light west window with intersecting tracery above four-centred arched west doorway with rough stone voussoirs, hoodmould with rosette motifs around the intrados and similarly to the hollow-moulded surround to the doorway. C19 plank door with cover strips and strap hinges. Four slit windows to integral stair turret on north side. South aisle has single trefoil-headed light at west end. Three buttresses to south-side with offsets that at east end is diagonally set. Two two-light and one three-light pointed arched Perp style windows.

All the openings on south and east sides have hoodmoulds with human head corbels. South porch with raised parapet and moulded kneelers. Pointed arched doorway with moulded surround and nookshafts with lipped capitals. Cusped headed niche above with stone carved episcopal figure. Archbraced porch roof with crenellated wall-plate. Pointed arched south doorway with moulded surround and pointed arched plank door with cover strips and strap hinges.

Interior: Pointed, double chamfered west tower arch. Three bay arcade with pointed segmental arches, Pevsner 'B-type' mouldings to the piers and foliated capitals. Decorative arch-braced roof to nave of seven trusses, with two tiers of purlins and crenellated wall-plate. Each alternate truss has plain moulded corbel with carved wooden angels at the base of each brace. Elaborate roof to north aisle with crenellated wall-plates, also seven trusses, each alternate truss having a king-post with crenellations to the tie-beam with suspended centred pendant and cusped bracing to the soffits of principals and raking struts, corbelled out with cusped bracing to the wall posts. The remaining trusses are similarly decorated but without king-posts.

Ceiled waggon style roof to the chancel but slight pointing to the arch. Each panel has diagonal struts with carved foliated designs at each intersection. Pointed chancel arch with moulded intrados supported on piers with three engaged shafts with lipped capitals. Pointed segemental arches to either side of chancel, that to south has inner arch supported on nook shafts with floriated capitals. Carved wooden reredos with blind cusped-headed panels with carved wooden symbols in each panel. Decorative wrought iron brackets to communion rails. C19 polygonal pulpit, pews, with blind ogee-arched panels with decorative spandrels to the bench ends. Octagonal bowl and stem to the font with quatrefoil panels to the bowl and cusped-headed panels to the stem.

Painted Royal Arms at west end of south aisle, dated 1788. Wall monuments. Chancel north side to Charles Cooke, rector d. 1685. Oval medallion with cherubs heads above, small skull below. Two monuments on south wall of south aisle, one to Thomas Acland of Combe d. 1633, scrolls flanking slate plaque with fleur-de-lis pendant and heraldic shield above, the other to James Acland d. 1655, semi-circular headed plaque with shield above and painted roundels to each side, bust below all with encircling inscriptions.

East window stained glass dated 1880.

Flag floor to chancel, decorative patterned tiles to chancel.

Listing NGR: SS5984434152

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532341

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)