Church Of St. Michael

Church of St. Michael

This is a parish church of considerable antiquity, with fabric dating from the early 13th century through to the 19th century. The building is constructed from coursed and squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, beneath lead and Collyweston slate roofs. It comprises a western tower, clerestoried nave with aisles, chancel, south porch, and south and north chapels.

The tower is a tall three-stage structure in ashlar, dating from the 13th century and positioned offset to the north side. It features clasping buttresses, chamfered string courses, and a plain corbelled parapet. The spire is set back with two tiers of lucarnes. The belfry stage displays tall paired 14th-century ogee-headed lights with quatrefoils set within moulded surrounds. The south side contains a blocked chamfered arch with human head stops, now infilled with a planked door and window, with a segmental-headed opening to the first floor. The west side has single lancets to the lower stages and a single light to the middle stage on the north side.

The north aisle and nave are of 14th-century coursed limestone rubble with lead roofs, featuring fleuron friezes and embattled parapets. Both aisle and clerestorey contain large three-light panel-traceried windows—three below and four above. A pointed and chamfered 13th-century doorway is also present. The lead rainwater hoppers to the nave roof are dated 1737 and 1780. A 19th-century vestry stands to the north with two lancets.

The chancel, roofed in Collyweston slate, has a three-light late 13th-century window in its north wall. The east wall contains three stepped 19th-century lancets. The south wall features three tall 14th-century three-light windows with cusped heads to the lights, square surrounds, and human head stops. The south aisle and clerestorey match those to the north.

The south porch was refronted in the mid-18th century with an ashlar classical front comprising a plain frieze supported on paired Doric columns in antis. The semi-circular doorway has moulded imposts and a jewelled keyblock, with side benches within. The inner door, dating from the 14th century, has a continuously moulded surround and hood. The west wall of the nave contains a very large transomed five-light 15th-century panel-traceried window with cusping. Below this is a continuously moulded doorway and hood, and in the south aisle west wall a smaller three-light panel-traceried window.

Interior

The interior contains a four-bay 13th-century nave arcade with quatrefoil piers, circular abaci, and double-chamfered arches. The responds on the north side bear foliate capitals. The nave tie-beam roof is 16th-century with moulded principals and curved braces to wall posts with corbels displaying human demi-figures. The east wall of the north aisle contains an early 13th-century lancet above a chamfered arch matching that to the south. The south aisle retains a pointed and chamfered piscina.

The 13th-century chancel arch is chamfered and roll-moulded with annular capitals. Either side are doorways to the rood loft. The chancel contains two double-chamfered 13th-century arches to the north and one to the south. Beyond these are two 14th-century arches with quatrefoil pier, foliate capitals and responds, one incorporating a grotesque. The eastern respond contains a trefoiled piscina with crocketed gablette. The south chapel has a similar piscina in its south wall. A 14th-century aumbry with arched continuously moulded surround is located in the north wall of the chancel. The vestry displays a further trefoil-headed piscina and in the west wall a round-headed single-chamfered window, probably 12th-century. The chancel roof is 14th-century with arch braces on embattled corbels, a brattished wall plate with fleurons, moulded principals, and bosses. The church retains much of its 16th-century clear glass.

Fittings

A fine late 17th-century octagonal pulpit features an ogee base to a twisted stem, fluted angle pilasters, and a moulded cornice with acanthus scrolls. The raised and fielded panels contain tarsia infill bearing the Sacred Monogram. The inlaid tester, with scrolled and dentillated frieze, is reused as a table in the south aisle. A large ornate chandelier with three tiers of candle holders, dated 1759, hangs in the nave. The 18th-century font has an octagonal bowl with shallow fluted base supported on a shaped fluted and gadrooned stem.

Monuments

The chancel contains a small wall plaque to Elizabeth Moulsworth, died 1618, featuring a kneeling figure in an arched alabaster surround with escutcheon. On the north side is an ashlar plaque with open pediment and urn on Composite pilasters to John Headley, died 1755. The chancel floor holds a brass plaque in a black marble slab to Sarah Walcot, died 1651. The south chapel contains a pair of matching wall plaques in marble with segmental open pediments and escutcheons supported on fluted Corinthian columns, with draped inscription panels: one to William Hyde, died 1703, and the other to William Hyde Senior, died 1694. The west wall of the porch displays an ashlar plaque to Dorothy Nicholas, died 1619.