Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

This is a parish church of medieval origin, primarily dating to the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, with 19th-century additions and restorations carried out in 1857, 1871 and 1895. The building is constructed in ashlar, dressed coursed rubble and rock-face ashlar, with slate and lead roofs featuring decorative ridges.

The church comprises a tower with spire, nave, aisles, south porch, north organ chamber and chancel. The tall embattled tower, set on a chamfered plinth with moulded band, is divided into three stages with bands and crowned by a 15th-century spire with two tiers of four lucarnes, the lower tier having two lights. A band extends under the embattlements with single 19th-century gargoyles at the centre of each side. A single stack rises at the east end of the north aisle. The entire structure is buttressed throughout.

The tower's west side features a single restored 14th-century arched two-light window with reticulated tracery above which is a clock face, with three small rectangular stair lights nearby. The north and south sides each have single rectangular lights, the south having four small rectangular stair lights, and the east side a single rectangular light. Four arched bell chamber openings each contain two lights with cusped tracery, hood mould and label stops, some terminating in carved human heads.

The north aisle's west wall displays a single restored 14th-century arched three-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and sill band. The north wall features a continuous sill band broken by the doorway and buttresses, containing a single restored early 14th-century two-light arched window with Y tracery and hood mould, a moulded arched doorway with hood mould and label stops, and further left two restored 14th-century arched two-light windows with reticulated tracery and hood moulds. The east wall has a single larger four-light window of similar design with hood mould and sill band, beneath which projects a slate lean-to roof covering a cellar. At the junction of aisle and east nave is a single carved grotesque. The clerestory contains four segmental pointed arched 15th-century windows, each with three arched lights.

The 19th-century chancel stands on a chamfered plinth. Its north wall features a single central projection housing the organ chamber, flanked either side by single 19th-century arched two-light windows with cusped tracery, hood moulds and human head label stops. Further to each side are single pairs of small cusped openings. Sill bands run continuously, with the left window's band extending to the east and south chancel. The east buttresses are topped with small finials. The east end displays a single 19th-century arched five-light window with cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. The south wall contains a single pair of small cusped openings, a single 19th-century arched two-light window with cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops, a moulded arched doorway, a single similar lower 19th-century window with hood mould and human head label stops, and on the far left a single similar pair of openings.

The south aisle's east wall contains a single restored 14th-century arched three-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould, human head label stops and sill band. The south wall has two similar 14th-century two-light windows with hood moulds. A rainwater head here is dated 1857. The gabled south porch features a double chamfered arched entrance with impost bands that form hood moulds over single trefoil arched lights in each side wall, with an inner double chamfered arched doorway and hood mould. To the left is a single similar two-light 14th-century window with hood mould. The porch's west wall has a single restored 14th-century window with three arched and cusped lights under a flat arch, hood mould and human head label stops. The south aisle's clerestory corresponds to the north; a rainwater head here is dated 1871.

The interior comprises a tall, narrow nave with four-bay arcades. The 14th-century north arcade has octagonal columns and responds, the central column and west respond featuring foliate capitals whilst the east respond displays stiff leaf capitals, the remainder being moulded. Column bases have integrated seats. The 13th-century south arcade has circular piers with moulded capitals, the west and east responds being corbels. Both arcades feature double chamfered arches with broach stops to some of the outer chamfers. The double chamfered tower arch has its inner order supported on corbels themselves borne by carved human heads, with a blocked arched opening above. The double chamfered chancel arch has its inner order supported on octagonal responds with moulded capitals.

The south chancel wall retains 19th-century decorative tripartite sedilia and a trefoil arched piscina to the left, both with foliate decorated spandrels. A continuous sill and hood mould band runs across the south chancel, with continuous sill bands to the east and north chancel, broken on the north side by the organ chamber. The south aisle's south wall contains an arched piscina. Evidence of the former nave roof survives on the east and west walls of the nave.

The 14th-century octagonal font is decorated with quatrefoil panels and has three projecting ledges; it is topped with a 19th-century canopy. The remaining furnishings are 19th-century. The west nave wall bears a brass plaque inscribed "Every's daught. Dormer's wife", dated 1634. The tower contains remains of a decoratively carved ashlar plaque.