Church of St Michael

Church of St Michael

This is a parish church in Breaston, situated on the south side of Main Street. The building dates from the 11th, 13th and 14th centuries, with a 15th-century clerestory added later. It was restored and given a new vestry in 1895 by the architects Evans and Jolly. The walls are constructed of rubble stone with quoins to the tower, coursed squared stone and ashlar elsewhere, with stone dressings and a stone plinth to the south aisle. The roofs are shallow-pitched and leaded, concealed behind plain low parapets with ridgeback copings and a coved eaves string course. The building comprises a west tower, a nave with a northern clerestory and south aisle, a lower chancel and a south vestry.

The west tower is two stages in height. The first stage is tall, with a narrower bell stage above and a broached stone spire rising beyond. The west elevation features an early 18th-century blocked semicircular-headed doorcase with raised imposts and keystone, immediately above which is a 13th-century lancet window. A similar lancet appears to the north side, and a 20th-century lean-to has been built against the south side. Clock faces are set into the top of the first stage on three sides (all except south). The bell stage above has double lancet louvred bell openings on all sides. The spire is decorated with small ogee-headed lucarnes on all four sides.

The north nave elevation includes a large stepped buttress to the west corner, topped with two carved stones. One bears two coats of arms and the name Grey inscribed on it; the other carries initials and the date 1680. Further east is a two-light window with a quatrefoil above cusped pointed lights and carved head label stops to the hoodmould. An early 20th-century stone porch stands beyond this, featuring a stone slab roof, a plain pointed doorcase to the front and two-light mullion windows on either side. Further east again is a 19th-century three-light pointed window with cusped intersecting tracery, and a 13th-century three-light pointed window with cusped stepped lancets and hoodmould. Stepped buttresses stand between and to the east of these two windows. Above them are two 15th-century flat-headed two-light clerestory windows with cusped semicircular-headed lights and incised spandrels. Three well-preserved gargoyles are positioned at eaves level.

The chancel has a two-light flat-headed cavetto-moulded mullion window to the west, similar in style to the clerestory windows, with a blocked pointed window to the east. Two stepped buttresses stand beyond this. The east window is three-light with flowing tracery and hoodmould. On the south chancel elevation, a stepped buttress to the east precedes a 13th-century three-light pointed window with cusped stepped lancets and carved head label stops to the hoodmould. To the west of this stands the 1895 vestry, which has a copy of the south chancel window on its east side and a similar window to the south. A pointed chamfered doorcase with hoodmould and a stepped corner buttress stand to the east of the southern window.

The nave to the west contains two 13th-century pointed three-light windows, both with hoodmoulds. One displays lights similar to those in the chancel south window, while the other has additional cusped ogee heads within the lancets. Each is flanked by stepped buttresses. Beyond these to the west is a 13th-century blocked doorcase decorated with nailhead work on the inner edge and signs of the zodiac incised on the voussoirs. Further west is a two-light window matching that in the same position on the north elevation, flanked by stepped buttresses.

Interior

The interior features a three-bay arcade with double-chamfered pointed arches supported on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The ends of the arcade are supported on corbels; that to the east bears a carved head of a girl. The chancel arch is narrow, its jambs and impost band appearing to date from the 11th century, with a double-chamfered arch above. The tower arch is wide and double-chamfered. The chancel contains a two-bay south arcade dating from 1895, with double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers with moulded capitals. At the east end of the south aisle, the original 13th-century two-light window remains in situ, now overlooking the south vestry. All roofs are shallow-pitched works of the 19th century. The south aisle features a pointed piscina at its east end, and the north wall of the nave contains an alms cupboard.

The choir stalls, altar rails and pulpit are all similarly designed in carved oak and date to around 1935. The nave pews are late 19th-century, as is the carved reredos. A fine marble font stands in the church, featuring a moulded circular plinth, gadrooned base, fluted tapering stem and gadrooned bowl. The font is dated 1720 on the base and signed 'JW'. The carved wooden cover is 20th-century work.

An early 20th-century carved screen crosses the tower arch, and a timber screen of about 1895 stands across the south chancel arcade. The sides of the nave retain re-used 17th and 18th-century panelling to dado height behind the pews. The church has very few memorials. Two brass plaques flank the chancel arch: one commemorates the church restoration in 1895, the other the gift of three bells in 1924. A slate and marble wall memorial to John Stevens, who died in 1884, is signed by Jackson of Nottingham and stands in the nave. A similar memorial of about 1882 to John Langford also appears in the nave, along with two modest early 20th-century brass plaques. The church contains little stained glass: only the central light of the east window holds late 19th-century stained glass, and a coloured glass window appears in the south aisle.