Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a former parish church, likely dating from the late 11th or early 12th century, with alterations from the 13th and 17th centuries and a late 19th or early 20th century restoration. Constructed primarily from sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings, the bell-turret is rendered, and the roofs are covered in stone slates. The building consists of a continuous three-bay nave and a two-bay chancel, with a south porch. The west gable of the nave has a small loop window. The bell-turret has a pyramidal roof. A blocked north doorway now contains a 20th-century casement window of two lights, set within a 2-centred chamfered arch with a diagonal pattern to the head. A hollow chamfered lancet window is located to the east of the south porch, and a restored 14th-century window with two pointed lights and plain tracery in a 2-centred head is further to the east. The chancel has two small lancet windows on the south wall, one on the north wall, and two taller lancets in its east wall. The south porch contains stone side benches. The 14th-century south doorway has a 2-centred head and chamfered jambs, with a 14th-century ornamental strap hinge door.

Inside, the ceilings are plastered, revealing the cased bottom ends of rafters, indicating four roofing bays in the nave and two in the chancel. A tie-beam separates the nave from the chancel, with vertical boarding above and a restored 16th-century screen below, consisting of three bays on each side of a wide entry, with rectangular panels at the bottom and turned pendants within arched openwork at the top. High-quality 19th-century choir stalls feature angel finials. Significant 13th-century terracotta painting, primarily consisting of ashlar lining, covers much of the chancel walls, north-east window reveals, and parts of the nave's southwest window reveals, with crosses flanking the east windows. Remains of 16th or 17th-century inscriptions and the Commandments are visible on the north wall of the nave. The chancel’s east and south walls have 17th-century refitted panelling. A likely early 19th-century lectern has three detached wooden columns. A Roman altar with a cushion capital inscription and stem is incorporated into the blocked north doorway. The 12th-century font has a tapered cylindrical bowl with cross and interlaced decoration, a cylindrical stem, and a later circular base. A partly restored 17th-century communion table stands in the nave. Near the font is a 14th-century tapered coffin lid with a cross-in-circle motif. Group value is attributed to this small medieval church due to its generally unaltered appearance and the extensive survival of the 13th-century decorative scheme. The church is now under the care of the Redundant Churches Fund.