Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

Parish church with a chancel dating to 1308 (recorded in vicars' list) and a nave built in 1811. The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with brick-nogged timber frame and a tile roof.

The chancel is a low two-bay structure with the nave rising higher over three bays. The eastern gable of the chancel displays cruck blades rising from vertical corner posts, with a small trefoil window at the apex at yoke level. A stained glass memorial window with three lights and "Y" tracery, finished with a rounded head, sits at altar level. The chancel's north and south elevations are brick-nogged close-studding without rails. The south door has a Gothic head, vertical boards outside and horizontal boards within, and is hung on strap hinges with an oak-cased lock and old metal latch. It is flanked by three-light round-headed mullion windows with leaded lattice glazing and old coloured glass. Part of the chancel has a sandstone plinth. A lean-to vestry adjoins with a small window of intersecting tracery.

The nave is marked by a weathered, projecting sandstone band set one metre above ground level, with pilaster-buttresses three bricks wide by one-and-a-half bricks deep dividing the walls into bays between the windows and corners. The Gothic-headed windows have three lights with intersecting tracery, rectangular leaded lights, stone sills, springers, keystones and hoodmoulds. The windows closest to the east gable on both sides are blocked. The western gable-end has pairs of brick pilasters flanking an inset porch with a Gothic head, springers and keystone. The porch contains side seats and a pair of double-faced panelled doors. The gable includes planted timbers with plastered panels and is topped by a replaced, louvred bell turret straddling the ridge.

The interior features an oak communion rail with splat balusters in Jacobean style, inscribed "W:W D:CW" and dated 1701. The roof structure consists of arch-braced rafters with high collars and ashlar pieces forming a continuous curve, together with an internal jointed cruck. An early 16th-century bench end with linenfold panelling and poppy-head survives. A marble wall memorial to Sir Thomas Mainwaring is dated 1726. A six-panel door accesses the small vestry.

A screen with six moulded posts supporting a 15th-century style moulded beam at eaves level separates the chancel from the nave. Above this, a plastered wall divided into five panels by painted columns records The Lord's Prayer, the 20th Chapter of Exodus, The Commandments and The Creed. The centre panel includes two coats of arms (including the Royal Arms) and is dated 1663. A three-tiered panelled pulpit in softwood with Gothic-headed panels stands on the north side of the nave facing the screen. The nave is fitted with softwood bead-and-flush panelled box pews. An octagonal stone font contains an alabaster vessel with a flame-shaped knob. The west gallery is supported by four timber columns of three shafts each and fronted by Gothic-headed panels, accessed by a winding staircase. Two wall panels at gallery level record wills of benefactors who left money to the parish poor. The nave ceiling is formed into panels by 15th-century style moulded purlins supported by moulded cambered tie beams with braces to carved timber bosses, with plastered walls and ceilings throughout.