Church Of St Michael And All Angels

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is a parish church located in the parish of Stanton by Dale. The building largely dates to the early 14th century, with 15th-century additions and significant restoration in the 19th century. Constructed of coursed squared gritstone with gritstone dressings, it features Welsh slate roofs with stone coped gables.

The church comprises a west tower, a nave with a north aisle and south porch, a chancel, and a north vestry. The two-stage west tower has clasping buttresses to the west and a moulded plinth. A west window incorporates two lancet lights beneath a deep, chamfered surround with a returned hoodmould. A single chamfered lancet sits to the south. Bell openings, each with two lancets within a four-centred arch, are positioned on all sides of the tower, above a moulded stringcourse, and are topped by battlements and four crocketed pinnacles.

The south side of the nave is fronted by a gabled porch with plain chamfered entrance and 20th-century doors, with small rectangular windows on each side. A 2-light Dec-style 19th-century window stands to the left, while a 3-light window with cusped intersecting tracery is to the right, alongside a broad buttress. The south side of the chancel has a 3-light window with cusped intersecting tracery; to the right is a double-chamfered priest's doorway and a 3-light window with a steep triangular head. The east end features angle buttresses and an east window of three stepped lancet lights within a single pointed arch. The 19th-century north vestry has small Dec-style windows. The gabled north aisle has two bays divided by buttresses, with two 3-light windows composed of three lancet lights within a single arch. A single west lancet, probably from the 13th century but heavily restored, is located on the north side, and two small trefoiled lancets are in the east gable.

The south porch contains stone seats and a stone vaulted roof supported by two transverse ribs. The square-headed south doorway has a crudely round-arched tympanum bearing an incised cross within a circle, possibly dating back to the 12th century. A three-bay north arcade is characterised by octagonal piers and abaci and double-chamfered arches. A double-chamfered tower arch features an inner order resting on corbels; the double-chamfered 19th-century chancel arch has the inner order on foliage capitals, colonnettes, and head corbels. The church boasts plain 19th-century roofs, with the chancel ceiling painted with stars. Other interior features include 19th-century choir stalls and an organ case with coving and painted pipes. A trefoiled piscina is present, alongside a second piscina which was originally in the former north aisle chapel, now located behind the organ, featuring a trefoiled arch and a relief carving of a head beneath a pinnacled gable. A 14th-century octagonal font displays tracery panels and a curved underside to the bowl. The east window is a work from c.1896 by C.E. Kempe.