St Michael's Church is the Church of England parish church of

Monkton Combe Monkton Combe is a village and civil parish in north Somerset, England, south of Bath. The parish, which includes the hamlet of Tucking Mill, had a population of 554 in 2013. It was formerly known as Combe, owing to its geography, while it was a ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. It was also the parish church of

Combe Down Combe Down is a village on the outskirts of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down village consists predominantly of 18th and 19th century Bath stone-built villa ...

until the 1850s when the communities separated. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Background

The structure is mostly mid-Victorian. Predominantly an example of Early English Gothic Revival, the structure has a steep pitched polychrome

Welsh Slate The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the l ...

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. “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.”

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.” Revd Pocock went on to found Monkton Combe School in 1868.

Bells

The tower contains an 8-bell chime 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.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains the grave of

Harry Patch Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War from ...

, known as the "Last Fighting Tommy" and the last surviving British Army soldier to have fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He died aged 111 and was buried there in July 2009, near the graves of several members of his family.

List of Incumbents

External links

Photos of St. Michael's

References

*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

Churches completed in 1865 19th-century Church of England church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Somerset Monkton Combe