Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a substantial medieval parish church with work spanning the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. It underwent restoration and partial rebuilding in 1859–60 by the architects Hine and Evans. The building is constructed of coursed squared rubble and dressed stone with ashlar dressings, beneath slate roofs that are variously gabled and pyramidal, with coped gables and gabled kneelers. Chamfered plinths run around the base. The church comprises a west tower, nave, north aisle, north aisle chapel, south aisle, chancel, south chancel chapel, and south porch.

The West Tower

The west tower dates from the 13th century and around 1490, and was rebuilt and re-roofed in 1859. It rises in three stages with two string courses, an eaves band adorned with gargoyles, and a crenellated parapet bearing eight crocketed pinnacles. The west face has two diagonal buttresses with two setoffs. The first stage features a stair turret on the north-east corner. The west doorway is 13th-century work with three orders, filleted shafts, a moulded head, hood mould, and mask stops. To its left are two stair lights. Above this, a 14th-century ogee-headed double lancet appears beneath a hood mould. The second stage has a clock on the south and west faces and two slit lights on the north. The third stage contains four double lancet bell openings with cusped heads and hood moulds; the west side has mask stops.

The Nave

The nave, built around 1490 in six bays but shortened by two bays in 1860, has a panelled crenellated parapet with eight crocketed pinnacles and seven large gargoyles on each side. The north parapet includes a panel depicting a bishop and a deer, referring to Archbishop Rotherham. On each side are six 15th-century triple lancets with cusped heads, four-centred arched openings, and a linked hood mould. These have been partly restored.

North Aisle and Chapel

The north aisle is mainly 19th-century work in three bays, with two diagonal and two intermediate buttresses having two setoffs. The north side contains three 15th-century triple lancets (restored) with ogee heads, square-headed reveals, and hood moulds. The west end has a 14th-century style double lancet with cusped heads, a hood mould, and stops. The north chancel chapel and vestry, also three bays and 19th century, feature three plain buttresses, a chamfered plinth, and a coped east gable with gabled kneelers. The north side has a 13th-century style door to the east with flanking shafts, a moulded head, hood mould, and mask stops. To the west are two 15th-century style double lancets with ogee heads, four-centred arched heads, and hood moulds with stops. The east end has a 13th-century style double lancet with hood mould and stops.

South Aisle and Chancel

The south aisle was rebuilt in 1860 in three bays with two diagonal and one intermediate buttress. The south side has two 15th-century triple lancets to the east with cusped ogee heads, square-headed reveals, and hood moulds. The west end features a 14th-century double lancet with cusped heads, a quatrefoil motif, restored hood mould, and foliate stops. The chancel, dating from the early 14th century in four bays, has two moulded string courses and two gabled diagonal buttresses at the east end. To the east on each side is a narrow 15th-century double lancet with cusped ogee heads, a transom, shield motif, and hood mould. On each side to the west are three 15th-century double lancets with cusped ogee heads and four-centred arched reveals (those to the south chamfered). The south side has a moulded rectangular low side window to the east. The east end has a replica 14th-century five-light lancet with four shafts, cusped quatrefoils in circles, a moulded reveal, hood mould, and angel stops.

South Chancel Chapel and Porch

The south chancel chapel is 19th century with three plain buttresses. Its east end has a 14th-century style double lancet with cusped heads, hood mould, and mask stops. The south side contains three 15th-century style double lancets with ogee heads, a quatrefoil motif, four-centred arched reveals, and hood moulds with mask and foliate stops. The south porch, built in 1860 in 14th-century style, has two flanking buttresses to the south and a doorway with flanking shafts, foliate capitals, hood mould, and mask stops. The east side has a double lancet with cusped heads in a square-headed reveal. Outside stands a discarded stone sundial dated 1820.

Interior

The interior features stone benches and a principal rafter roof with collars. The inner south doorway, 19th century in 13th-century style, has flanking shafts with moulded foliate capitals, a head with keeled roll mould, and a hood mould with foliate stops. The doors are 19th-century diagonal boarded work.

The north and south nave arcades are 13th century in three bays. They have four round piers with moulded round bases and capitals, four half-pier responds with moulded bases and capitals, and double-chamfered and rebated arches with linked hood moulds and mask stops. The north side has four figure corbels and three smaller angel corbels. The south side has four figure corbels and three damaged beast corbels. Square pilasters stand between the clerestory windows. The moulded 15th-century roof, restored in 1860, has crenellated corbels, curved brackets, and shield and foliate bosses. One plain boss is inscribed 'GT TA 1738'.

The tower arch is 13th century, double-chamfered and rebated, with half-pier responds having water-holding bases and chamfered capitals. A Renaissance Revival style panelled oak screen from 1935 features obelisk finials. The north aisle has a three-bay panelled oak screen from 1522 (restored in the 20th century) to the east, with pierced traceried panels, a moulded transom and crest bearing Latin inscriptions and the date. Further east is a 14th-century arch, double-chamfered with filleted shafts having octagonal capitals. The north aisle has a 19th-century lean-to roof with diagonal matchboard. The south aisle has a similar roof and arch at the east end.

The chancel arch is 14th century, double-chamfered, with rounded keeled shafts and run-out bases. The oak rood screen in seven bays is 15th century with ogee heads, perpendicular traceried panels, and a panelled transom; it has been largely restored. The chancel has a three-bay arcade on each side with clustered keeled shafts and three matching responds, linked hood moulds with restored shield stops. The single pier on the south side to the west has a water-holding base. The south-east respond has a damaged ogee-headed niche.

The east end has a moulded 14th-century door to the north with an elaborate ogee head and hood mould; the traceried panelled door dates from 1937. To the east is a 14th-century Easter sepulchre with a crocketed ogee head, flanking shafts, Decorated tracery, an ogee hood mould with a crocketed finial, and containing a 20th-century aumbry. The east end has a moulded square 15th-century bracket to the left, an oak reredos from 1900 with traceried panels, and a bracket with a blank shield and angel corbel to the right.

The south side has a chamfered squint to the east and, to its right, a 14th-century double piscina with a central shaft, ogee-headed openings with Decorated tracery, hood mould, and mask stops. Further west is a 14th-century triple sedilia with moulded arms between the seats. The elaborate canopy features three ogee-headed openings, crocketed finials and crests, and the canopies have tierceron vaults. The roof is 15th century, partly renewed in 1860, with cambered moulded tie beams, king posts, and minor struts to moulded purlins. There is diagonal matchboarding and 19th-century principal rafters. The south chancel chapel and north aisle chapel have roofs matching the north aisle.

Fittings and Monuments

The fittings include a 17th-century font with an octagonal bowl having a moulded rim, a clustered keeled shaft on a chamfered square base, and a 20th-century timber cover with traceried panels, angel finials, a concave conical top, and a crocketed finial. There is an octagonal pulpit from 1916, chamfered and moulded 19th-century benches, a panelled clergy desk from the late 19th century, a 17th-century communion table with moulded stretchers and reeded square legs, two restored 17th-century armchairs with carved panelled backs, an 18th-century oak chest with bracket feet, an octagonal oak poor box, a cast iron box from 1818, a carved timber lectern from 1898, a desk lectern from 1927, and a 20th-century effigy of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The monuments include three painted stone slabs from 1811, 1818, and 1822 recording benefactions, all signed or initialled by J. Trusswell, and two moulded 19th-century panels containing a Terrier. There is a table tomb with four shafts, ballflower ornament, and angel bosses, bearing stone figures of a knight and lady and an oak figure of a second lady, commemorating Adam de Everingham who died in 1341. Two mutilated figures of knights from the 13th and 14th centuries stand on 20th-century bases, along with a moulded panelled base with an effigy of a knight from the 14th century. All these commemorate members of the de Everingham family who died in 1287, 1387, and 1398. There is a 17th-century slate tablet with an angel corbel and, above, a draped cartouche. Brasses date from 1860 and the 20th century (four examples), and a marble and slate war memorial tablet from 1919.