Canterbury: St Gregory the great
Overview
Grid reference: TR 155 581
The church is faced externally with knapped flints, with freestone for windows and other decorative detail. The west front is tall and gabled, with a large west window stretching up high into the gable.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave with north aisle and south porch; chancel; north aisle extends eastwards as vestry.
Description of Archaeology and History
Sir George G. Scott, 1848. Consecrated by Archbishop Sumner on August 23rd 1852. Built as a memorial to Archbishop Howley.
Exterior Description
The church is faced externally with knapped flints, with freestone for windows and other decorative detail. The west front is tall and gabled, with a large west window stretching up high into the gable. The west window has four principal lights, broad and trefoiled, and the Decorated tracery has as its main elements four quatrefoils over the two centre lights and two trefoils over the outer lights. Over the window is a hoodmould and, as is the general pattern throughout the church, the label stops are carved with the head of a man and a woman respectively. Below the window is the west doorway (the south porch is used as a vestry for the choir, and therefore entrance is through the west door only) with a stone gable above it projecting into the lower part of the west window. The string-course below the window runs into the hood-mould of the doorway.
There is a diagonal buttress at the south-west and, because of the north-aisle adjoining, a flat buttress at the north-west. The aisle west window is of tvo trofoilod lights with a quatrefoil in the head. The aisle wall is quite plain, four bays long, with a window of two lancet lights in each; the splays internally are quite deep. The vestry is higher than the aisle, of which it would otherwise appear as a simple extension, and has its own gabled roof. There are three vestry windows: two on the north side, one of the lights with a trefoil in the head and one of a single light with a trefoil in the head, while the east window is again of two lights without tracery like the aisle windows. Above it is a much larger east window, quite separate and up in the gable, of three lights and Decorated tracery consisting of three symmetricallyplaced quatrefoils. The vestry is quite high enough to have contained two storeys and maybe an upper floor was intended. Otherwise Scott may perhaps have been following a medieval model in which there were two floors or have intended to give the impression of two storeys from the exterior.
The chancel extends further east than the vestry and there is space here for a window of two ogival-profiled lights with tracery in the head; there are two south windows of the same character and the east window has three principal lights with curiously tweaked cinquofoiled heads and tracery consisting of three trefoils which are elaborately cusped internally. The westernmost and easternmost windows of the nave are of the same character: three principal lights, the centre light taller than the other two, with cusped trefoils in the head. In the second bay from the east the three principal lights are all the same height and there is more elaborate tracery - a cusped quatrefoil and then a trefoil over the centre light and trefoils over the side lights.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
East window by Francis Spear. Admirably well suited to its context, with especially vivid blues, reds and yellows. The subject is the Adoration of the Lamb, with the Lamb high up in the centre light in a glory of rays and an encircling throng of men and angels below and at the sides. At the foot of the window is depicted the cathedral flanked by St. Gregory's church and St. Martin's church.
Stained Glass
In the tracery lights of the nave south windows first and third from the east is the only 19th century glass in the nave which survived the second World War. In character it is strong and attractive, and it is regrettable that all the rest was lost - though the lightness of the interior, which is the result, is certainly attractive. By Wailes of Newcastle.
Stained Glass
1949
North aisle, first window from the east. The Adoration of the Magi against a background of clear glass. Rather lifeless. The window is signed with a colophon which incorporates the initials FS and is dated 1949. Also by Francis Spear.
Stained Glass
19th Century
In the north and south windows of the chancel is some excellent 19th century grisaille glass. The north window and the south window nearest the east survive intact; the second south window has stained glass only in the tracery. By Wailes of Newcastle.
Interior
Interior Description
The north arcade is of four bays, with octagonal piers; these, and all wall surfaces, have been whitened and although this by no means suits the character of all churches it cannot be denied that it looks well here. The nave roof is of the trussed—rafter kind, the aisle lean—to; in both there is lath and plaster between the rafters, painted white. The nave, as one would expect from the west facade, is lofty; this applies also to the chancel arch, which has an inner order supported by stumpy vestigial colonettes. These have octagonal abaci a kind of floriated frieze rather than a true capital, and an annulet; they extend downwards for about three feet and are then corbelled inwards and finished with trails of carved foliage.
Fixtures and fittings
Font (object)
Consists of an octagonal stone bowl supported by a central pier and eight short columns with amazingly exuberant foliated capitals. Round the bowl, in ingeniously attenuated lettering, is the legend: But Jesus Called Them Unto Him and Said Suffer The Little Children To Come Unto Me And Forbid Them Not For Of Such Is The Kingdom Of God. The scene is depicted on the panel facing westwards.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TR 155 581
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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