Church Of St Michael And All Saints And Adjoining Stone Wall To West Side Of Churchyard

The Church of St Michael and All Saints, originally a Presbyterian chapel, dates back to approximately 1650, with a 20th-century addition. It is reputedly associated with Sir Edward Rhodes of Great Houghton Hall. The building is constructed of ashlar sandstone, weathered and partially rendered, and has a tile roof. It comprises a single-nave and chancel space, a west porch, and a flat-roofed addition to the north-east corner. The church is single-storey and has five bays internally. Architectural details include a chamfered plinth and large quoins. Windows have double-chamfered surrounds to three round-headed lights with a transom, featuring plain leaded glass. A continuous dripmould and a cavetto-moulded oversailing course run beneath the parapet, which has round-headed merlons grouped to form a central feature on the side walls and crow-stepped gables. The west entrance front features a low, matching porch with a 20th-century door in a quoined surround, with a moulded impost linking to a hoodmould over a two-piece arched lintel. A bellcote with a moulded plinth and shaped gabled head sits atop the main gable. A blocked doorway on the north front retains remnants of a cross-boarded door within a surround. The south front features a blocked doorway and two 3-light windows. An east window is set beneath a heraldic emblem of a helm and mantling within a recessed panel. Inside, the exposed roof displays five 17th-century king-post trusses with raking struts and braces to the ridge. There are two rows of 17th-century box pews with carved upper panels and acorn knob finials, and a carved, octagonal 17th-century pulpit with a sounding board. A roughly 30-metre-long perimeter wall of stone with a two-course triangular coping borders the west end of the churchyard and is included for group value. The building ceased non-conformist use in the 19th century and became a chapel of ease to Darfield Church.