Church Of St Michael And All Angels

Church of St Michael and All Angels

Church. The building comprises a Perpendicular west tower of probably 15th-century date, though the base may be earlier, with a four-bay nave having a clerestory and north and south aisles. A three-bay chancel with clerestory and north and south chapels follows, with a vestry added to the east end of the south chapel. A south porch completes the plan. The north chapel (Savile chapel) was built in 1447 and extended by one bay in 1493. The chancel and south chapel date to 1490. In 1877, G. E. Street undertook restoration work and added a nave vestry in the Decorated style.

The building is constructed in ashlar with stone slate roofs and roll-top copings to parapets. The aisles are buttressed and feature tall two and three-light traceried windows. The south porch is gabled with an elaborate frieze to the parapet carved with eight angels and Christ in the apex. It has a moulded doorway with three engraved colonnettes bearing foliage capitals and is ribbed and vaulted internally.

The square tower rises in two tall stages with reducing diagonal buttresses. The west door has a moulded surround, and the west window is probably 19th-century. The bell-chamber has eight-light mullioned and transomed openings with five-foiled lights and traceried heads. A crenellated parapet sits on corbel-brackets, and eight crocketted pinnacles crown the tower. The north chapel east window comprises five lights with a cambered head. The tall chancel east window, much restored, has six lights. Both windows display Perpendicular tracery.

Interior

The Savile chapel contains an important collection of monuments to the Savile family. A long effigy of a cross-legged knight in chain-mail with shield and sword, with the head beneath a canopy, is thought to be Sir John de Thornhill (circa 1260–1322), though the face has been restored. A tomb chest with an alabaster effigy commemorates Sir Thomas Savile (died 1449) and his wife; the chest is divided into eighteen ogee-headed panels with weepers. An oak tomb chest of 1529, formerly under a four-poster canopy, holds effigies to Sir John Savile (died 1503) and his two wives, Alice Vernon and Elizabeth Paston, with the chest panelled with elaborate quatrefoils. A large monument between the chapel and chancel commemorates Sir George Savile (died 1614) and his wife Anne, sister of Sir Thomas Wentworth; paired columns to each side support a segmental arch with large achievement and figures. The kneeling figure of their second son appears at the foot on the north side, while on the chancel side a reclining figure of their first son holds a book and a skull, having died while studying at Oxford. A dresser tomb on the north side, attributed to Maximilian Colt, commemorates Sir George Savile (died 1622) with an alabaster effigy in armour flanked by columns supporting an entablature with two cartouches, shield and crest. In the north-east corner, a black marble sarcophagus on a large square base, signed by William Barlow, commemorates Sir George Savile of Rufford (died 1743), with a pediment to the back and scrolled support. A small alabaster baby lying on its back and holding a basin for a font, by Amy Lewis, commemorates the second Lord Savile (died 1931); this was brought from Rufford Abbey in 1948.

The south chapel contains 18th-century wall memorials to the Elmsall family and an empty tomb recess in the south wall. At the base of the tower is a good mid-18th-century wall memorial consisting of a cartouche with supporting cherubs and a skull with wings at the base.

Much original stained glass survives. In the Savile chapel, a north-side window bears the name Thome Savill and the date 1447, restored in 1972. The east window of the chapel, a 'doom window' now very faded, shows the name Wiliam Sayvile and the date 1493, restored in 1953. The chancel east window depicts the tree of Jesse and was donated by Robert Frost, parson; it is dated 1499 and was considerably restored in the 19th century. Other windows contain fragments of early glass. Set in the screen between the chancel and south chapel is a stained glass escutcheon of Phillip Waterhouse (died 1614) bearing the motto BEE FAST.

The chancel is arcaded on octagonal piers, with 19th-century oak screens. The nave is arcaded on clustered piers. The north chapel roof is original and panelled. The chancel has an excellent roof of circa 1877 with traceried panelling and cusped and traceried bracings to six irregularly placed tie-beams, each ending in a well-carved angel. The nave roof is arched braced. An octagonal panelled stone font with an oak ribbed and crocketted cover dates to circa 1866. The stone pulpit is elaborate. An organ was placed in the north aisle circa 1981.