Church Of St Michael And All Saints

Church of St Michael and All Saints

A parish church comprising a late 14th-century west tower and 19th-century body built in 1879 to designs by William Smith in Decorated style. The building is constructed of random granite rubble with ashlar dressings and plain tile roofs. It features a chamfered plinth, coved eaves, moulded sill band, and coped gables with gabled kneelers. The plan includes a west tower, nave, north and south transepts, vestry, chancel, and south porch.

The west tower rises in three stages with chamfered plinth, moulded band, two string courses, coved eaves band with gargoyles, and crenellated parapet. Two diagonal buttresses to the west and two side buttresses to the east all have setoffs. The first stage contains an ogee double lancet with panel tracery and hood mould with mask stops on the west side. The second stage has a quatrefoil light to west and south, and a clock to south and east. The third stage features on each side a cusped double lancet louvred bell opening with hood mould.

On the south side of the nave, two double lancets appear to the east. The buttressed north side has three lancets, all with Decorated tracery and hood moulds. The north and south transepts have buttressed gables, each with a Decorated triple lancet and hood mould. A re-set 11th-century round-headed window appears on the west side of the north transept. The lean-to vestry has a double lancet with segmental head.

The chancel spans two bays with a buttressed east end containing a triple lancet with hood mould and mask stops. The north side has an off-centre plain single lancet. The south side features a central buttress with a doorway of moulded head and single shafts below it, and flanking the buttress at a higher level are two double lancets with hood moulds and mask stops. The gabled south porch has a moulded doorway with shafts and hood mould with mask stops, flanked by single buttresses, with a single lancet in each side.

The interior contains stone benches and arch braced roof. A fillet moulded doorway with shafts, hood mould with mask stops, and a pair of half glazed doors lead inward. The tower arch, dating to the 14th century, is double chamfered and rebated with moulded octagonal imposts.

The nave, transepts, and chancel all feature moulded sill bands, moulded window openings with shafts, and arch braced roofs with collars and spine beams. The transepts have chamfered and fillet moulded arches with octagonal responds. The north transept contains a traceried panelled wooden screen and a segmental pointed arch to the organ chamber with a panelled screen dating to 1934.

The chancel has a chamfered and fillet moulded arch with hood mould and mask stops, octagonal responds, and round minor shafts all with foliate corbels. A pointed arch on the north side leads to the organ chamber. The east end displays an alabaster reredos in 14th-century style with crocketed gabled niches and finials and mosaic figure panels, flanked by 13th-century style blind arcades. The east window contains stained glass. The south side features a cusped combined piscina and aumbry to the east and cusped double sedilia in the eastern window. The three side windows have stained glass dated 1899.

Fittings include a notable 11th-century font in the form of a square capital with large upright leaves on a round stem, with a wooden cover with arched handles dating to 1940. 19th-century framed and traceried stalls and desks accompany plain benches, a traceried octagonal pulpit, and a brass lectern. An oil painting in heavy gilt frame after Raphael dates to 1942. Memorials include a marble and slate tablet from 1847 and a pedimented oak war memorial board.