Church of St Michael

Church of St Michael

This is a parish church originating in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, partly rebuilt in 1682 by Augustine Jackson the rector, and restored in 1865. It is constructed of rubble stone with quoins, except for the north aisle which is ashlar. The roofs are steeply pitched with plain tiles, crested ridge tiles, lapped stone copings to the gables, ridge crosses, and a gabled 19th-century stone bellcote to the west gable.

The church comprises a nave with a north aisle, a south porch, and a lower chancel. The west elevation contains a small semi-circular headed 12th-century window at its centre, flanked by large 19th-century buttresses. Above this is a 19th-century rose window, with a bellcote above featuring two Caernarvon arches to its base and a similar, smaller arch over, all three containing bells. The north side of the nave has a 13th-century aisle with a continuous moulded sill band and coved eaves band. Its west elevation has a small trefoil-headed single-light window set high up and a stepped corner buttress with a large 13th-century human gargoyle set diagonally above.

The north elevation of the aisle has a blocked, low, chamfered pointed doorcase to the west and two Y-tracery pointed windows to the east, together with two hopper heads dated 1865 and a central buttress. A similar buttress stands at the eastern corner, beside a pointed 13th-century east window with cusped intersecting 19th-century tracery. Plain parapets with moulded copings run above. To the east, the chancel has a two-light 19th-century geometric tracery window with a hood. Similar three-light east window features a semi-circular headed stone plaque dated 1682. The south elevation of the chancel has a similar two-light window to that on the north side, probably dating to around 1682, and to the west is a low chamfered pointed doorcase with a hood. The east corner of the nave displays long and short quoining, probably 11th-century. The south nave elevation has one two-light and one three-light 19th-century pointed windows with cusped intersecting tracery, and a gabled 19th-century porch to the west with a moulded doorcase. The inner door has a 12th-century arch rebuilt on 19th-century nook shafts. The outer order of the arch has billet mould, the centre order has chevrons, and the inner order is plain. Above at the centre is a re-set 13th-century coffin lid.

The interior is simple, featuring a 13th-century three-bay north arcade of double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The 12th-century semicircular-headed chancel arch appears to be rebuilt. All roofs are 19th-century, with arch-braced trusses to the nave and scissor trusses to the chancel. The chancel has a 19th-century arcaded marble reredos, contemporary metal altar rails, and choir stalls. The nave contains simple pews and an octagonal wooden pulpit on a stone base of similar date and style. The north aisle has a pointed 13th-century piscina to its east end and an odd stone font with a circular bowl on an octagonal base to its west end. The west end of the nave contains an organ dating to around 1865.

The church contains three early memorials. Two alabaster slabs are re-set against the south wall of the chancel with incised figures of a knight and a lady with Latin inscriptions around them. The eastern slab commemorates William Sacheverell, who died in 1558, and the western slab commemorates Richard Francis, who died in 1530. Above is another slab from the base of a tomb chest carved with fourteen kneeling sons and daughters with a shield at the centre and to each side. An effigy of a priest, dating to around 1400, is set in the north wall of the aisle. Also in the aisle are two re-set limestone slabs: one to Richard Sheppard, who died in 1728, and another to Thomas Shipton, who died in 1711, together with a 19th-century painted charity plaque. The nave has a marble wall war memorial. All chancel windows and the western rose window contain glass dating to around 1865, whilst the east window of the aisle has stained glass dating to around 1880.