Description

COMBE RALEIGH COMBE RALEIGH
SY 10 SE

6/119 Church of St Nicholas
22.2.55

GV II*

Parish church. Largely C15 with substantial C19 restoration, date of 1700 on the
gable. Flint rubble with Bathstone and Beerstone dressings; slate roofs, gabled at
ends.
Plan: Nave, chancel, west tower; 4-bay north arcade plus 2 bays to the chancel
(possibly the Denys chantry (q.v. The Chantry); south porch, south-east vestry.
Similarities between mouldings of the arcade, tower arch and chancel arch suggests a
major phase of rebuilding in the C15.
Exterior: Chancel with the date of 1700 in gable and the initials EF. 4-light
probably C19 east window with a depressed arch and tracery, 2-light south window with
a hoodmould and trefoil-headed lights. The nave has a large square-headed probably
C16 4-light window with cinquefoil-headed lights and a buttress with set-offs. The
south east vestry is gabled with a door on the east side, the shaft of the stack has
been dismantled. South-west porch with a 2-light window on the east return and a
one-light window on the west return; wide segmental-arched outer doorway with a
hoodmould, stone-topped benches, a medieval ceiled wagon roof and a moulded inner
doorway with a 3-centred arched head. C19 or C20 3-light window to the west of the
porch. The north aisle has 3-light traceried west and east windows, and 4 4-light
square-headed probably C16 windows with cusped lights, 1 buttress with set-offs and a
rectangular stair turret with a 2-light square-headed window to the right of the
turret. Moulded doorframe to the priest's door to the left of the turret. 2 stage
battlemented tower with a south-east stair turret rising above the tower. The west
face has a moulded west doorway with a hoodmould, a plank door, a 3-light west window
with C19 tracery; 2-light cusped belfry opening with trefoil-headed lights and
relieving arch, similar belfry opening on north face. The east and south faces have
1-light belfry openings, the east face has a mid C19 clock face to a flat bed clock,
the frame signed G. Wadham of Bath.
Interior: Plastered walls, except for the window jambs; probably C15 Beerstone
chancel arch with a hollow-chamfered moulding and capitals only to the engaged
shafts; C15 moulded tower arch carried on boldy-carved corbels with variants of the
green man. 4-bay north aisle, the piers of the same section as the chancel arch,
which abuts the arcade rather awkwardly; 2 lower bays to the chancel. Late C19 or
C20 ceiled wagon to the nave, medieval ceiled wagon to the aisle and north chancel
chapel; C19 2-bay arch-braced chancel roof. Beerstone doorframes, rebated for a
door, to the rood loft stair turret. The sanctuary has a trefoil-headed piscina and
a probably C17 communion rail with thick turned balusters, returning along the north
side. Probably re-cut medieval font with an octagonal bowl with quatrefoils and
boldy-carved foilage below the bowl. C19 or early C20 pulpit in a C17 manner; C19
choir stalls and nave benches. The nave and aisle floor are paved with probably
early C19 red and black tiles with some C17 ledger stones set in it.
Stained Glass: East window probably by Drake of Exeter memorial date 1885. 1848 west
window of the aisle commemorates members of the Band family (q.v. Worfield House),
probably by Beer of Exeter with quarries and diagonally-set texts. The tower window
and westernmost window of the nave have brighly-coloured non-pictorial glass from the
circa 1830s.
Memorials: Series of C18, C19 and C20 wall plaques, mostly white marble, in the nave.
The north chancel chapel has a wall monument to James Bernard, Lord of the Manor,
died 1823, and others of the family and a brass to William Henry Bernard, died 1872.

Listing NGR: ST1585802332

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547501

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living