Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a Grade II* listed building located in Liverton Village. It dates back to the 12th century but was largely rebuilt in the late 18th century and again in 1902-1903, when a porch was added. The church is constructed of dressed sandstone and features a stepped plinth at the chancel. It has Lakeland slate roofs with stone gable copings and cross finials, along with a slate-clad timber bellcote. The layout includes a nave, a lower chancel with a north vestry, and a west porch.

Notable architectural features include medieval stonework at the west end of the nave, which has offset angle buttresses, and later medieval stonework at the east end of the north wall. There is a blocked 12th-century round-headed doorway in the north wall of the nave. The early 20th-century windows have paired elliptical-headed lights, with two on the south side and one on the north side of the nave. The west wall features single pointed lights, while the chancel has a rectangular window with three trefoil-headed lights and an east window with three cusped pointed lights. The early 20th-century square-plan bellcote rises from the ridge at the west end of the nave, with battered sides below paired louvred bell openings and a pyramidal roof that has sprocketed overhanging eaves and a metal cross finial. The gabled west porch has boarded double doors set in a round-headed opening, and there is a foundation stone at the south-west angle with a cross finial on the gable.

Inside, the church is plastered, featuring a round-headed 12th-century chancel arch that was raised in the early 20th century. This arch has a double zigzag inner moulding, an outer moulding decorated with grotesques, and carved impost bands. Attached shafts have moulded bases and capitals adorned with elaborate carvings of mythical beasts, birds, humans, and interlace, including depictions of the Expulsion from Paradise and a boar hunt. There is memorial panelling dedicated to members of the Petch family from around 1918 in the sanctuary, along with a panelled ceiled roof. Stained glass windows, created by W.E. Tower between 1903 and 1915, can be found in the nave, and there is notable stained glass from around 1903 in the east window. The church also features a 12th-century drum font on a 20th-century octagonal stem and plinth, topped with a late 19th-century timber and metal cover. In the sanctuary, there is a 14th-century grave cover with a geometric-patterned cross, sword, and shield bearing lozenges in the shape of a cross. The nave houses two medieval bells with crown hangings, one of which has a Latin inscription.