Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 29/10/2012

SP4115
17/45
27/08/57

COMBE
Church of St. Laurence

(Formerly listed as Church of St. Lawrence)

GV
I

Church. Built 1395 for Eynsham Abbey (datestone). Coursed limestone rubble,
rendered over chancel, with ashlar quoins and dressings; gabled stone slate
chancel roof and shallow-gabled lead roofs; gabled porches of stone slates to
south and flagstones to north. Chancel, nave and west tower. Perpendicular
style. 5-light east window with panel tracery; off-set corner buttresses;
2-light window with restored head to north; south side wall has label moulds
over 2- and 3-light square-headed windows and 2-centred double hollow-chamfered
doorway. 4-bay nave has hood moulds over 3-light windows with panel tracery;
offset buttresses divide bays, which each have parapet with quatrefoil-carved
frieze. South porch: moulded pointed-arched doorway set in stone-coped gable
with offset corner buttresses and fleur-de-lys finial with 1395 date;
cinquefoil-headed side lights; moulded stone ribs support ceiling; ancient plank
door with iron fittings set in hollow-chamfered pointed-arched doorway. North
porch: hood mould over casement-moulded doorway; late C19/early C20 3-light
window to left; early C12 round-arched inner doorway. 3-stage west tower: offset
corner buttresses; label mould over pointed-arched hollow-chamfered doorway with
cusped mouchettes in spandrels; restored 3-light west window with panel tracery;
cusped lights and hood-moulds with head stops over 2-light belfry windows;
string course with gargoyles and carved heads beneath crenellated parapet with
corner finials. Interior: trefoiled piscina, and 3 sedilia set under crocketed
canopies. C18 communion rail. Late C14 three-bay wagon roof, with corbelled
posts braced laterally to ashlar plate. Double-chamfered chancel arch; late C14
rood stairs to north and canopied image niche and trefoiled piscina to south.
Rare late C14 polygonal stone pulpit, carved with blind tracery and resting on
ribbed stem. 4-bay depressed tie-beam roof, braced to corbelled posts. C19 font
to west; C15 octagonal font, with relief carvings of figures, on floor to east.
Wall paintings: parts of complete painted scheme of c.1440, discovered 1894.
Doom painting over chancel arch has Christ flanked by Apostles and scenes of the
Last Judgement. Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John to north-east. Part of
Annunciation to south-east with hands of God above Gabriel holding scroll. St.
Christopher fording the stream, over south door, painted over by C17 Ten
Commandments and Moses and Aaron. Painting of St. Catherine holding sword and
wheel near north door. Two C17 devotional texts to north and south walls. C15
stained glass: east window has canopies set in panel tracery and, in the tracery
glass, Christ and the Virgin in Majesty flanked by two Cherubim and a censing
angel. East window of south side of nave has figure of St. James Major holding
wallet, staff and pilgrims hat. Nave windows have C15 Cherubim set in panel
tracery lights. Late C19 west window of south side of nave has reset C15
fragments.
(buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p551-2; C.E. Emden, Combe: Church and
Village, 1970, p7-12; National Monuments Record; Bodleian Library, Topographical
Drawings, for drawings of late C18 onwards including details by R.C. Buckler)

Listing NGR: SP4138615880

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Laurence's Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7593927

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair