2A00:23C7:C8BC:C501:507C:445E:62F7:256D: /* Background */Added hyphen

2025-06-15T15:21:18Z

Background: Added hyphen

New page

{{Short description|Church in Somerset, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox church
|name = St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe
|image = Monkton combe church arp.jpg
|caption =
|dedication = [[St. Michael]]
|denomination = [[Church of England]]
|churchmanship = [[Broad Church]]
|parish = [[Monkton Combe]]
|deanery =
|archdeaconry =
|diocese = [[Diocese of Bath and Wells|Bath and Wells]]
|province = [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
|canon =
|priest =
|vicar =
|rector =
|curate =
|minister =
|assistant =
|honpriest =
|deacon =
|pastor =
|organistdom =
|organist =
|website =
|coordinates = {{coord|51|21|22|N|2|19|43|W |type:landmark_region:GB |display=inline,title}}
}}

'''St Michael's Church''' is the [[Church of England parish church]] of [[Monkton Combe]], [[Somerset]], England. It was also the parish church of [[Combe Down]] until the 1850s when the communities separated. It is a Grade II [[listed building]].<ref>{{cite web|title=St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-400247-st-michael-s-church-monkton-combe|publisher=British Listed Buildings|accessdate=5 September 2011}}</ref>

==Background==

The structure is mostly mid-Victorian. Predominantly an example of [[Early English Period|Early English]] Gothic Revival, the structure has a steep pitched polychrome [[Welsh Slate]] roof and other aspects that clearly mark it from a distance as being a mid 19th-century construction. The main tower is surmounted by a gilded [[weather cock]].

==Norman Church==
The village was owned by the Bath Abbey monks, hence the name Monkton Combe, and the first structure was considered to be an “ancient Norman” one. The parish minutes of 1757 give a glimpse of the small church structure having a [[chancel]] with at least two pews.<ref name=coe>{{cite web|title=St Michael, Monkton Combe|url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/stmichaelmonktoncombe/|publisher=Church of England|accessdate=5 September 2011}}</ref> “The church is a small structure, 50 feet in length and 16 feet in breadth, covered with tiles; at the west end in a little stone turret hangs two small bells. It is dedicated to St. Michael.”<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of St. Michael and All Angels|url=http://www.monktoncombe.com/poap/names/page13.htm|publisher=Monkton Combe|accessdate=5 September 2011}}</ref><ref name=mcchurch>{{cite web|title=St. Michael's Church|url=http://www.tastytemplates.com/_village/church.html|publisher=Monkton Combe|accessdate=5 September 2011}}</ref>

==Regency Church==
“About the beginning of the 19th century, when this little old church, after long neglect, needed extensive repairs, the inhabitant instead of repairing it, pulled it down and out of its materials build a new church of about the same size, seating only 95 persons, but to their minds no doubt more comfortable. It was erected in 1814 and did not last long. The Rev. Francis Pocock, being appointed vicar of Monkton Combe in 1863, found this church in a dilapidated state, and … for the needs for the parish, and had the courage to undertake the entire rebuilding of the sacred edifice.”<ref name=coe/> Revd Pocock went on to found [[Monkton Combe School]] in 1868.

==Bells==

The tower contains an 8-bell [[Chime (bell instrument)|chime]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.htcd.church/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PARISH-PROFILE-AW-V6-Low-res.pdf|title=Holy Trinity Combe Down Profile of Benefice|last=|first=|date=|website=Holy Trinity Combe Down|access-date=21 February 2018}}</ref>
which was installed as a memorial to Rev. Francis Pocock, vicar of the parish from 1863 to 1875.
It was cast by J. Taylor of Loughborough and dedicated at Easter 1927 by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.
There are also two small ancient bells which are survivors from a previous building on this site.

==Organ==
The church contains a two manual [[pipe organ]] by Henry Jones and Sons.<ref>{{cite web|title=Somerset (Avon), Monkton Combe St. Michael [N08612]|url=http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N08612|publisher=National Pipe Organ Register|accessdate=5 September 2011}}</ref>

==Churchyard==
The churchyard contains the grave of [[Harry Patch]], known as the "Last Fighting Tommy" and the last surviving [[British Army]] soldier to have fought in [[World War I]]. He died aged 111 and was buried there in July 2009, near the graves of several members of his family.<ref name=mcchurch/>

==List of Incumbents==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name || Years as Minister
|-
| The Revd F. Pocock || 1863–1876
|-
| The Revd A.G. Gristock || 1876–1882
|-
| The Revd D.L. Pitcairn || 1883–1914
|-
| The Revd Sir [[Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp|M.H.P. Beauchamp]]
|| 1914–1918
|-
| The Revd [[Percy Warrington|P.E. Warrington]] || 1918–1961
|}

==See also==
* [[List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells]]

==External links==
* [http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/070226monkton-combe-st-michaels-pevsner-architectural-church-chat Photos of St. Michael's]

==References==
{{reflist}}
*Rev. John Collinson, ''History of Somerset'', 1791.
*Rev. D. Lee Pitcairn and Rev. Alfred Richardson, ''An Historical Guide to Monkton Combe, Combe Down and Claverton'' (Bath: F. Goodall Printer, 1924) 28–29.
*''Bath Chronicle'', July 6, 1865.
*Nikolaus Pevsner, ''The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol'', (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1958), 229.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's Church, Monkton Combe}}
[[Category:Church of England church buildings in Bath and North East Somerset|Monkton Combe]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1865]]
[[Category:19th-century Church of England church buildings]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in England]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Somerset]]
[[Category:Monkton Combe]]

St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe - Revision history

2A00:23C7:C8BC:C501:507C:445E:62F7:256D: /* Background */Added hyphen