Church Of St Michael And All Angels

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is a parish church on the west side of Cosby Main Street. It dates from the 11th to 15th centuries, with significant restorations carried out in 1907 by H. Cayley and in 1909 by J. F. J. Goodacre. A south porch was added in 1975. The building is constructed of random granite rubble and cobbles with dressed stone and ashlar dressings, beneath lead roofs.

The church comprises a west tower with spire, nave with clerestorey, vestry and organ chamber, chancel, south aisle, and south porch.

The 14th-century west tower stands in three stages. It has a chamfered plinth with moulded band, two string courses, coved eaves with spouts and a crenellated parapet. Two diagonal western buttresses and a single south-eastern buttress with setoffs support the structure. The first stage contains a restored shouldered doorway with a weather-stripped door, and above it a late 14th-century double lancet with panel tracery and hood mould. The second stage has quatrefoil lights to the north and south. The third stage features restored cusped double lancet bell openings with hood moulds and stops on each side, and above these, a clock to the north, south and west. The set-back octagonal spire has two tiers of lucarnes on alternate faces, all with crocketed gables; the lower tier contains double lancets. Above stands a crocketed finial and weathercock.

The nave has a chamfered plinth, moulded string course, coved eaves, moulded parapet and coped east gable. The north side is buttressed with three rendered brick buttresses and a 14th-century buttress with two setoffs between the western pair. To the west stands a double chamfered round-headed doorway with re-set zigzag moulding. Three renewed triple lancets with Decorated geometrical tracery, hood moulds and mask stops light the north elevation. The south side features four renewed triple lancet clerestorey windows with hood moulds and mask stops. At the south-east corner stands an octagonal rood stair turret with pyramidal roof.

The early 20th-century organ chamber is gabled with a double gable stack and a pair of diagonal buttresses. It has a flat-headed double lancet to the north and a single lancet to the east. A flat-roofed parapeted vestry of 20th-century date stands to the north with a lancet window and a moulded pointed doorway; to its east is a double lancet with continuous hood mould.

The chancel has a pair of diagonal buttresses at its east end with a sill band. A renewed 14th-century Decorated lancet with hood mould stands above a chamfered single lancet. The south side contains a single 20th-century buttress, flanked to the left by a chamfered 13th-century doorway and beyond by a chamfered flat-headed single light. Above this, and to its left, are two large slate memorial tablets, one of mid-18th-century date and one of circa 1809. To the east stands a renewed cusped ogee double lancet with flat head.

The three-bay south aisle has a chamfered plinth and sill band, coved eaves and coped parapet. Its east end is buttressed diagonally and features a renewed Geometrical triple lancet with hood mould and mask stops. To its left is a large slate memorial tablet of mid-19th-century date. The south side has two buttresses with setoffs to the east of the porch, and a double lancet with Y tracery, hood mould and mask stops. To the east again stands a restored cusped double lancet. West of the porch is a renewed cusped double lancet with hood mould. The west end has a renewed 15th-century double lancet with panel tracery, hood mould and mask stops.

The rendered brick south porch has a plain pointed doorway and a 19th-century nine-panel door. Its interior contains two brick benches and a south doorway with Tudor arched head and remains of hood mould.

The interior's tower arch is 13th-century, with double chamfered and rebated moulding and octagonal responds with moulded capitals. A 20th-century Perpendicular-style glazed screen and doors close this opening. The south arcade is late 14th-century, comprising four bays with piers featuring half-round shafts to the east and west and thinner round shafts to the north and south running directly into the hood mould. Between the shafts are a cove and a chamfer. The bases are lozenge-shaped and the arches are double chamfered and rebated. The north side windows contain medieval stained glass fragments in the heads. The roof features V struts to principal rafters.

The south aisle's east end has a canted stair enclosure with a four-centred arched plank door and a mask corbel to its left. The east window contains stained glass of circa 1870, with a mask stop above it. The south-east window holds stained glass from 1933, and the central south window contains 19th-century stained glass. The restored roof has cambered beams with bosses and short wall posts.

The chancel's arch is 14th-century, double chamfered and rebated with octagonal responds. A remodelled late 14th-century traceried screen with a round-headed central opening divides the space. The north side has a square 20th-century aumbry to the east, whilst the east end contains a 19th-century stained glass window with a single lancet above bearing 20th-century stained glass. The south side has a late 13th-century piscina to the east and a window with 15th-century stained glass to the west. The roof is a panelled barrel vault of 19th-century date.

Fittings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries include a traceried oak pulpit, an eagle lectern, panelled stalls and desks, plain benches, and two arch-topped donations boards from 1819. A solid hewn oak chest, said to be 12th-century, stands within. The font has a banded round bowl dating to 1908, mounted on a 14th-century stem with four minor shafts. A late 18th-century Royal Arms board is displayed on a wall.

Memorials include a slate tablet of 1786, an urn on corbel of 1888, an enriched marble and slate tablet of 1836, and an Egyptian-style marble and slate tablet of 1818. Three late 19th-century Classical marble and slate tablets commemorate the Rickards family, and a Classical tablet dates to 1854. A stone wall plaque with bronze war memorial tablets records the years 1918 and 1945.