Church of St Michael is a Grade II* listed building in the Charnwood local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 June 1966. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Michael
- WRENN ID
- haunted-frieze-reed
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Charnwood
- Constituency
- Melton and Syston MP: Edward Argar (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 1 June 1966
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Michael, Melton Road, Thurmaston
- OS grid reference
- SK 610 093
- Coordinates
- 52.67853, -1.09872
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Michael is a parish church, largely rebuilt in 1848, though incorporating a 14th-century west tower. Some internal features from the early 14th century remain, including the arcades. The church is constructed of randomly coursed granite rubble with ashlar dressings.
The tower is buttressed with two stages, featuring a 19th-century west doorway with a roll-moulded and hollow-chamfered arch. Above is a two-light 19th-century window, and the bell chamber has paired foiled lights. An embattled parapet tops the tower, adorned with gargoyles. The south aisle, also from 1848, is buttressed and features a Decorated-style west window; the other windows are in the Perpendicular style, with three lights and paired lights above, set in square-headed openings with hoodmoulds and corbel heads. A roll-moulded and hollow-chamfered archway defines the south doorway. The aisle and nave are under a single roof sweep. The chancel, also dating to 1848 and in Decorated style, has a four-light east window. To the north-east of the chancel is a polygonal projecting chapel. The north aisle mirrors the south, with a large gabled porch and parvise.
Internally, the roughly contemporary arcades of the medieval church survive, dating from around 1300. These feature five bays of round-chamfered arches, supported by alternately octagonal and clustered columns with heavy abaci. The western bay has a shallower arch of a later date, linking the existing church with the added tower, which is defined by a tall double-chamfered arch. The nave roof is Victorian, a unique construction with the aisles roofed under the same slope, the roof carried clear of the arcade wall on a higher timber arcade. The nave roof itself is of hammer-beam construction, with ornate decoration on the spanadiels at the main braces. A narrow north doorway has a double-chamfered arch and responds.
The chancel arch is located east of the steps leading to the chancel, and is supported by high corbels. The chancel has a scissor-braced roof and an east window containing stained glass from 1879. East windows in the aisles contain glass from 1845, in the style of a painting. The font is probably Victorian, featuring a squared lower base that rises through chamfering to an octagonal section, from which concave curves spring to support a plain octagonal basin.
Local climate
Church of St Michael receives an average of 740 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 75% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 36 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 64% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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