Church Of St Michael

The Church of St. Michael is a parish church with a Saxon west tower, 13th-century transepts, a nave and south porch built in 1765, and a chancel added in 1889. The tower is constructed of coursed sandstone with irregular large quoins, while the rest of the church is made of coursed squared sandstone and topped with a slate roof. The church has a cruciform shape, featuring a west tower and a south porch.

The tall tower includes small round-headed windows that vary in detail, a stepped-in 18th-century belfry stage with a broad pointed opening on each side, and a low pyramidal cap. The nave features 19th-century windows designed in a 13th-century style. The transepts have a tall chamfered plinth, clasping buttresses at the corners, and stepped buttresses along the sides beneath gable windows. The side walls contain single and paired 13th-century lancet windows, with a hollow-chamfered string linking the hoodmoulds. The gables are adorned with three-light windows, mostly from the 19th century. The chancel has lancet windows on the sides, a priests' door on the south side with an enriched shouldered arch, and a three-light window on the east side. The south porch features 19th-century inner and outer arches, a notable 18th-century sundial in the gable, and a blocked square-headed window in the west wall.

Inside, there is a low round-headed tower arch with moulded imposts, possibly made from Roman stones, and an arch of rough rubble that may be a post-medieval reconstruction. The transept arches are pointed and double-chamfered from the 19th century, resting on medieval jambs. The south transept contains a piscina in its south wall, and there is a square-headed aumbry rebated for a door in the north wall of the north transept.

In the chancel against the north wall, there is a 12th-century coped and regulated gravestone, a medieval cross slab in the sanctuary floor, and various 18th- and 19th-century floor slabs and wall monuments. Additionally, there is an important collection of carved stones lying loose in the porch.

Traditionally, Warden Church is believed to be located on the site of an oratory used by St. John of Beverley during his time as Bishop of Hexham from 685 to 704. The west tower, despite its 18th-century belfry stage reconstruction, is a significant example of the Northumbrian group of Saxon towers.