Church of St Michael the Archangel

Church of St Michael the Archangel, West Retford

This Grade II* listed church stands on the south side of Bridgegate. Built mainly in the 14th century with a tower, nave and south aisle, it was enlarged in the mid-Victorian period with a north aisle and chancel. The architect of these additions is unknown. The building is constructed in limestone ashlar with tiled and leaded roofs.

The church plan comprises a west tower, a five-bay nave with two lean-to aisles, north and south porches, a transeptal organ chamber to the north, and a two-bay chancel. A church hall built in 1978 adjoins the south side but is not accessible from the church.

The most striking external feature is the fine slim spire, which appears to be early Perpendicular, probably dating from around 1350 to 1400. The spire has closely spaced crockets at the angles. The transition from tower to spire is remarkable and unusual, effected by broaches that start below the parapet, similar to the arrangement at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. Corner pinnacles rise from the slopes of these broaches, with short lengths of embattled parapet running across above the belfry lights. Curved flying buttresses extend from the pinnacles to join the spire. Above the joining point is a second set of slim pinnacles rising against the face of the spire. The tower has diagonal buttresses with set-offs and a tall three-light west window. The belfry lights are of two lights with blind panels below a transom.

The south aisle is a low Perpendicular structure, probably built in two sections, as evidenced by a visible masonry join. The easternmost bay was built first as a chapel and then extended westward. The broad south porch is outwardly Perpendicular with an embattled gable and diagonal buttresses. It contains a stone vault supported by three thick transverse ribs with semicircular section and chamfered edges, rising from ogee corbels. These ribs appear to date from around 1250 to 1350, suggesting that a Decorated porch may have existed earlier.

The chancel is now largely obscured behind a block-built hall with a pyramidal roof, constructed in 1978. The north side of the church features a regular aisle added in 1863, with a porch in the westernmost bay and a transeptal organ loft to the east. The tracery on this northern side displays the flowing variant of Decorated style.

Internally, the chancel arch features good capitals decorated with foliage and small heads peering out between them. The arch displays Perpendicular mouldings with hollows between attached shafts. The south arcade is likewise Perpendicular, with slim piers of lozenge plan. The narrow points of these piers face north and south, with attached shafts only on those faces, meaning each pier has two rather than the usual four shafts. The detailing exhibits what Pevsner described as "a prevalence of the concave everywhere". Next to the altar is a round-arched piscina with a chamfered edge. The south aisle underwent heavy restoration in 1863, the same year the north aisle was constructed. The north arcade is standard Victorian "Middle Pointed" with clustered shafts in the piers and foliate capitals. The roofs are largely Victorian, though the south aisle may retain some older work. The chancel is built of brick with polychrome stone banding, now whitewashed. The south windows have black marble shafts to the reveals. The chancel roof is panelled, painted and gilded, with an attractive red patterned ceilure over the altar indicating the extension of 1889. Every second roof truss features hammerbeams.

Principal fixtures include a high altar, probably early 20th century, made of oak in Neo-Perpendicular style, and an oak pulpit probably dating from 1863 with Gothic traceried panels. The mid-Victorian octagonal font displays symbols of the evangelists in panels on the bowl and has an oak font cover of spire form. A chancel screen in the style of around 1500 was designed by C. Hodgson Fowler in 1899. An early 20th-century altar by F.E. Howard originally stood in the chancel and features linenfold panels. A reredos with a painted Adoration of the Magi by Sir Ninian Comper came from a church in Lincoln. A large painted benefaction board, dating from around 1812 to 1830, hangs in the tower. The church contains much Victorian stained glass, mainly from the 1860s to 1890s, and monuments that are predominantly simple Neoclassical tablets from the early 19th century. The nave is carpeted and furnished with upholstered chairs.

Historically, the pre-Conquest settlement of West Retford, located on the west bank of the River Idle, may have possessed a church. A church certainly existed by 1227 when a dedication took place on Michaelmas Day. The manor and the advowson of its church passed to the Hercys in the 13th century, who retained them until 1570. Extensive Perpendicular rebuilding occurred, including construction of the west tower and south aisle. By 1832 the interior had fallen into decay. A restoration and enlargement was undertaken in 1863 under Charles Dales Butterfield, the rector from 1857 to 1867. He was not, as sometimes claimed, a brother of the architect William Butterfield. The chancel was lengthened in 1889, and a sacristy was added at the north east around 1910. The adjoining church hall was dedicated on 4 June 1978.