Church of St Michael is a Grade II* listed building in the Herefordshire, County of local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 October 1967. A Medieval Church.

Church of St Michael

WRENN ID
idle-forge-rye
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Herefordshire, County of
Constituency
North Herefordshire MP: Dr Ellie Chowns (Green)
Country
England
Date first listed
16 October 1967
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St Michael, Knill
OS grid reference
SO 291 604
Coordinates
52.23782, -3.03949
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Michael is a parish church dating from the late 12th century to the early 13th century, with extensive restoration carried out in 1876. It features walls made of local igneous rock and sandstone rubble, with sandstone dressings, and a stone slate roof. The church comprises a west tower, a nave with a south porch, and a chancel.

The west tower is an early 13th-century rectangular structure with three stages and a late 19th-century embattled parapet. It has a shouldered 19th-century light at the ground floor and square-headed loop lights on the upper two floors.

The nave includes a 19th-century Y-tracery window with two trefoil-headed lights on the left and a three-light 19th-century window with trefoil-headed lights and a central trefoil in a roundel on the right, next to a 19th-century gabled timber-framed porch. There is an altered 14th-century doorway with chamfered jambs and a two-centred head.

In the chancel, there is a two-light 19th-century window with trefoil-headed lights and a quatrefoil in a roundel, alongside an altered 12th-century semi-circular headed light in the north wall. The east window is a three-light 19th-century design with trefoil-headed lights and three quatrefoils in roundels.

Inside, the church features a late 19th-century roof with decorative members. There is a piscina from around 1200 in a recess in the chancel, which has a plain round head, and a 13th-century stoup in the south wall of the nave with a trefoil head. The early 13th-century tower arch has plain responds and has been extensively restored.

The font, dating from around 1200, has an octagonal bowl with geometric patterns in relief on each side, with a column base reused as the stem.

The interior also contains hatchments of the Walsham family, who were formerly of Knill Court (which was destroyed by fire), dating from 1617 to 1874. Additionally, there is a wall monument from 1685 commemorating Elizabeth Child, featuring floral swags, a cartouche of arms, and a cherub.

Local climate

Church of St Michael receives an average of 850 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 60% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 60% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 47 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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