Combe Church

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This article was kindly sent by Dr Donald Peck in December 2022.

The church existed at the time of Domesday (1088). It probably belonged to the Ernulf de Hesdin, the Norman lord of the Manor, along with 6 slaves, the demesne farmland, and Combe wood. Ernulf had acquired the Manor from Eadric, a Saxon lord of many manors.

Ernulf himself owned many manors, including Newbury, Linkenholt and part of Buttermere. 

By that time the church was already probably dedicated to St Swithun (d.863), an early bishop of Winchester, alive just before the reign of King Alfred. St Swithun only became famous 100 years later when his remains began to inspire many miracles, connected to the enlarging of Winchester’s Minster in the 970s by St Aethelwold (d. 984), another renowned Bishop of Winchester. Because of the miracles, Aethelwold had St Swithun’s remains moved from outside to inside the Minster at Winchester and placed in a gorgeous tomb commissioned by King Edgar. The Norman cathedral of Winchester, which was dedicated to St Swithun, contained this tomb, but the tomb was destroyed after the Reformation. A dozen or more other churches were also dedicated to St Swithun, mostly within Hampshire, as Combe was.

Around 1090 Ernulf and his wife Emmelina gave the manor and church of Combe to the major Norman abbey of Bec (or Le Bec-Hellouin), For over 300 years, Bec administered the church and manor from the priory of Ogbourne near Marlborough, which was more of an administrative foundation than a religious one. In 1446 Henry VI gave the advowson (the power to appoint the vicar) and half the tithes of Combe to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, and he also gave the Manor of Combe to King’s College, Cambridge.

Combe remained part of the Bishopric of Winchester until the twentieth century when it passed, after a short period attached to the bishopric of Salisbury, to the bishopric of Oxford.

The nave dates from the second half of the 12th century. The chancel was rebuilt and widened in the 13th century, and in the 19th century the whole of the north side of the church was refaced. The west doorway, now closed off to create a vestry in the bell tower, is from the 13th century. 

The shingled timber bell-tower has a pyramidal top and lean-to roofs below it, as seen in Essex churches. Tree-ring analysis has dated the structure to 1440. Cruck-like buttresses support the four tapering corner posts under the lean-to roofs.

The most recent significant recent restorations were in 1830, 1881 and 1934. The nave and chancel were re-roofed in the 1930s, probably based on the existing roof structure, the nave having been earlier re-roofed in the 16th century and the chancel in 1618-19.

The east window of the chancel is of mid-13 th century date, altered early in the 14th century.

Outside, between the two lights there is a circular 13 th century opening with a beaded edge, partly cut into by the ogee trefoiled heads of the windows. The window is slightly off-centre in the east wall, noticeable inside the church as well. Below the window is a moulded string course, and pairs of short buttresses at the corners. At the top of the gable above the window there is a stone cross.

In the north wall of the Chancel are two lancet windows with widely-splayed inner jambs and chamfered external jambs; they are partly restored. In the south wall there is a similar lancet to the east and to the west a doorway with a two-centred chamfered arch and a hollow moulded label, both being contemporary with the wall. On the left of the doorway, outside, faint markings might be a mason’s mark or a sundial. 

The south porch is dated 1652 and the doorway probably dates from the same time, with a head of re-used c.12th century stones.

Inside, the first south window is a 15th century insertion of three cinque-foiled lights under a square head. The first and second of the north windows of the nave are modern copies of it. The second south window west of the porch is probably 13th century. 

In the Vestry (through the west door) there are two large panels painted with the Ten Commandments, and lead plaques against the back wall commemorating repairs in 1830 and 1934.

Some 16th century linen pattern panels are worked into the side of the reading desk, and the altar rails are 18th century balusters. The font has a plain round bowl on an octagonal stem with moulded necking. Its date is probably mid-14th century.

In the chancel floor are three black marble gravestones to John Rawlinson, d. 1680; his son John, d. 1724; and Anne Whistler, d. 1681. Anne was the daughter of Ralph Whistler (1590–1657) and wife of Gabriel Whistler (1638-1712), who is buried in a fine chest tomb the churchyard. Ralph Whistler and, particularly, his nephew Gabriel were responsible for building or rebuilding parts of the Manor House and the gazebo at the west end of the Manor’s walled garden. The Manor has a date of 1663 inscribed on its west wall, very similar to the date on the porch. The 1652 church porch was probably built by Ralph Whistler.

The church has three bells; the tenor is inscribed 'Give thankes to God. I. W. 1616'; (made by John Wallis of Salisbury), the second is by T. Mears, 1831, and the treble is of pre-Reformation date and is inscribed 'Sancte Laurenti'.

(Note on the pulpit: We think that when the beautiful new Caen stone and alabaster pulpit was donated to St. Lawrence's Church in Hungerford in 1891, the earlier old carved wooden pulpit was given to Combe Church. [HLP]. Dr Peck is not able to confirm this].