Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church largely dating to the 12th century, with significant alterations and additions in the 13th, 14th, and 16th centuries. It was substantially rebuilt in 1826 by Daniel Knight and restored in 1865 by Millican and Smith. The church is constructed of random coursed Mount Sorrel granite with ashlar dressings, topped by slate roofs and stone coped gables.

The building features a south-western tower, a nave, aisles, a chancel, a south porch, and a vestry. The tower is of four stages, dating to the 14th century, with stepped set-back buttresses, a chamfered offset to the belfry stage, and an embattled parapet surmounted by a recessed short spire with two tiers of lucarnes in alternating directions. A 2-light 14th-century window is set into the west wall, with cusped ogee heads to the lights and a chamfered pointed surround. Single matching 2-light windows are located in the tower's four directions, each featuring quatrefoils above. Within the north aisle’s west wall is a large 4-light 14th-century window with Geometric tracery, complemented by a smaller matching 2-light window. Two three-light and one 2-light windows are also present in the north aisle wall, all with pointed heads and chamfered rectangular surrounds. The vestry features a doorway with a plain chamfered surround to the north, and a 2-light 19th-century window with pointed heads to the lights and a trilobe above to the east. The chancel’s east wall displays a 3-light 19th-century window with cusped and pointed lights and Geometric tracery in the pointed head. An oversized 3-light 19th-century window with intersecting tracery and a chamfered and pointed surround is found in the east wall of the south aisle. The south side has three 2-light windows, two with 19th-century cusped heads and rectangular surrounds, and one pointed window with Y-tracery. A circa 1826 gabled south porch has an embattled parapet and a chamfered four-centred outer arch with a moulded head. A shield of arms is visible to the left, and a balancing shield, now partially removed, is to the right. The 19th-century inner door is continuously moulded and filleted.

Internally, the 13th-century moulded south arcade consists of three bays with octagonal shafts, moulded capitals, and double chamfered arches. The north arcade is a 19th-century addition with circular shafts, capitals, and double chamfered arches. The roofs are 19th-century in design, with two tiers of corbels to the south aisle and reused 14th-century wooden corbels in the nave. The 19th-century chancel arch is double chamfered and moulded, featuring annular corbels with dogtoothing. A continuously double chamfered 13th-century tower arch is located at the west end of the south aisle, and a matching 19th-century arch is at the east end. A pointed and chamfered doorway provides access to the vestry from the chancel’s north wall, while a broad double chamfered archway connects to the south aisle from the chancel’s south wall. Fittings are predominantly 19th century and include a circular ashlar pulpit with an integral eagle lectern and stiff leaf corbel to the cornice, and a circular bowl font supported on shafts with stiff leaf capitals.