The Nave

This is the most recent addition to the main structure of the church. It was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and opened in 1925 as a memorial to old boys of Downside School (known as Old Gregorians) who lost their lives in the First World War. Their names are recorded on memorial tablets at the west end of the church.

While the detail of the stonework reflects many of the characteristic features of Sir Giles' pointed architecture, most notably the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, the main lines of the nave and its vertical proportions were dictated by the earlier work of Dunn and Hansom, whose ribbed vault and "thirteenth century" arrangement of the blind and clear storeys (triforium and clerestory) already ran into one bay of a projected nave.

The whole body of the Church is dominated by the Great East Window. This was another of the works of Sir Ninian Comper at Downside and was installed in 1936. The limpid colours of the glass are typical of Comper’s work. The window depicts Christ in glory at the second coming to judge the world. He is surrounded by saints who stand on branches of a vine springing from the ‘root of Jesse’ who can be seen sleeping at the bottom of the window behind the stone gallery. This is modelled on the idea of Jesse Windows and screens that were common in the Middle Ages.