Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

Parish church. Built in 1863 by George Gilbert Scott on the site of an earlier church. It was commissioned by Frances Mainwaring and Salusbury Kynaston Mainwaring in memory of Charles Kynaston Mainwaring of Oteley. The medieval church that previously occupied the site was replaced by a new church built in 1788 for Mary Kynaston of Oteley, which Scott then demolished to make way for this building.

The church is constructed of snecked yellow sandstone ashlar with slate roofs. The roof of the nave features lozenge patterns, the chancel and porch have zig-zag patterns, and the aisle and vestry have plain bands. The nave and stepped coped verges terminate in a cast-iron Celtic cross at the east end of the chancel. The building comprises a nave, apsidal chancel with a bellcote at the junction, a north porch, a south aisle, and a south-east vestry with organ chamber. The design follows the Late Early English style.

The nave's north side features stepped gabled buttresses at the west corner. A moulded cill band and chamfered plinth run continuously to the porch, west end, and south aisle. Two 2-light windows with plate tracery and hoodmoulds with foliated stops are placed to the left of the porch, while a single trefoil-headed lancet with foliated label-stops stands to the right. The porch displays a decorated Celtic cross on its gable, with a pointed moulded outer doorway containing two orders of shafts and a hoodmould with head-stops. Small triple lancets flank each side. The inner doorway is pointed and moulded with a single order of shafts and foliated label-stops. A scissor-braced roof shelters the porch interior, from which hangs a cast-iron lamp. At the junction with the chancel stands a gabled bellcote with twin-pointed openings divided by a circular shaft with foliated capital, blind quatrefoils to each side, and a Celtic cross to the apex. The west end displays a 3-light window with plate tracery and head-stops.

The lean-to south aisle extends unbuttressed across four bays, with a diagonal buttress at the west corner and a twin-gabled buttress at the east corner. It contains paired lancets, except for the west wall which has a 2-light plate tracery window; all windows bear foliated label-stops. The lean-to south-east vestry features a pointed archway to the left with foliated label-stops and an inner cusped trefoil-headed doorway, reached by three steps. A narrow rectangular window with shouldered head stands to the right. The east wall has paired lancets with blind trefoil heads. A stack in the form of a stepped gable rises from the south-east corner, though its top has been rebuilt in concrete. Steps lead down to a boiler house.

The apsidal chancel has a moulded plinth and stepped cill band, with buttresses in four unequal bays decorated with foliage below the cill band and incised decoration above. A carved corbel table runs along the chancel. Three broad lancets with head-stops occupy the semi-circular east end, and a 2-light window with plate tracery and head-stops is positioned on the north side. Cast-iron downpipes and rainwater heads with blind quatrefoils run around the entire church.

The interior of the nave has a trussed rafter roof supported on miniature stone octagonal shafts, with a stone corbel table beneath. The chancel roof is panelled with foliated bosses and foliage decoration to the stone cornice. A pointed moulded chancel arch with head-stops and foliated capitals to clustered marble shafts opens from the nave. A pointed four-bay arcade spans the south side of the nave, featuring large marble columns with moulded stone bases and capitals and foliage decoration to the label-stops of hoodmoulds. The west respond has three marble shafts while the east respond has two marble shafts flanking corbelled stone responds. The nave and aisle contain benches by Scott fitted with brass sconces featuring foliage decoration and twisted shafts. A harmonium stands beneath a pointed arch, with a wooden Gothic screen beyond leading to the vestry and organ chamber; this screen displays a 19th-century copy of Van Eyck's Ghent altarpiece. A richly decorated font with four marble shafts stands in the nave, crowned with an octagonal wooden cover featuring wrought-ironwork. A stone pulpit with marble shafts to its base and sides is also present.

The raised chancel and sanctuary contain encaustic tiles, with marble shafts and foliated stone capitals in the windows. Choir stalls and sconces by Scott, along with a wooden Gothic screen in a segmental pointed arch with marble shafts and foliated capitals, provide access to the organ chamber. Two sedilia with trefoil heads occupy the south side of the chancel, while a trefoil-headed credence shelf stands on the north. An alabaster reredos, wooden communion table, and brass altar rails—probably all by Scott—furnish the chancel. A brass candelabrum hangs from the roof. An oak chest stands against the west wall of the nave, likely dating to the late 17th or early 18th century.

A brass plate above records that the church was built in 1863 in memory of Charles Kynaston Mainwaring, a commemoration repeated in stained glass in the west window. The north-west window of the nave contains stained glass dating to 1863 commemorating Jeremiah Lehopena Mashueshue, who died in 1863 and was the son of Moshesh, Paramount Chief of Basutoland, South Africa. Additional stained glass of 1863 appears in the chancel. The west window of the south aisle contains late 19th-century glass to the Reverend Charles Mainwaring, and the south-east window, dating to 1885, commemorates Henrietta Margaret Peel. The church contains no monuments of particular note.