Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

This is a parish church largely rebuilt in 1847-53 by Reverend John Parker, with a steeple added in 1855-56. The building incorporates substantial parts of a medieval church dating principally from the 12th and 15th centuries.

The exterior is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble with rough-hewn angle quoins to the 15th-century east end; roughly coursed and dressed limestone and gritstone rubble with ashlar dressings to the nave and chancel on the south side; largely rendered on the north side; and limestone rubble, sandstone ashlar and yellow brick to the steeple. Slate roofs feature coped verges (stepped at the west end) with carved stone kneelers, and floriated crosses to the gables. The church comprises a nave and chancel in one, a north aisle, north and south porches, and a detached steeple linked to the main body by a vestibule dated 1855 and 1856. The 19th-century work is in an idiosyncratic Gothic style.

The steeple is octagonal with a swelling outline to the second and third stages. It has lancets to all faces with hoodmoulds and floriated label-stops, a stone spire with steep-pitched lucarnes and a floriated cross to the top.

The nave features three two-light Decorated-style windows on the south with mouchettes to the heads, hoodmoulds and floriated label-stops. Spaces beneath each label-stop are inscribed with religious symbols or monograms, except the east window which bears the inscription "A.D. 1847". Rubble voussoirs appear above the hoodmoulds. Two gabled eaves dormers with two-light Decorated-style tracery and ball-flower decoration to chamfered corners are present. Three stepped buttresses with yellow brick facing support the structure. A gabled porch in the west bay has the inscription "A.D. 1849" beneath the head stops of a pointed outer arch with intertwining leaf decoration to the capitals. A recessed shouldered arch has pierced trefoils to the spandrels. A lean-to to the west has a narrow rectangular chamfered opening to the front. Painted cast-iron gates to the porch have a lierne vaulting pattern. Inside, a wooden vaulted roof is supported on ringed stone shafts and has carved painted bosses, ribs and flying ribs. A bench with a cusped edge stands on the east side, with a stone staircase to the west. A remains of a 14th-century grave slab with Lombardic script to the top right corner and carving of a hare to the bottom left is fixed to the east wall. A tall round-headed 12th-century south doorway, evidently repositioned by Parker, has a plank door with incised carving to decorated strap hinges, the lower with fleur-de-lys pointing. An inscription on the door reads "RBED / WA RD / EX (?) S / 1713." The exterior west wall of the porch has a reused inverted datestone inscribed "R (?) K M I (?)T (?)B/ WARDENS / 1717." The west wall of the nave has two lancets with curious cusping and a rose window above. The east wall has a three-light 15th-century window with trefoil heads and panel tracery. The date "1858" appears in raised lettering on a rainwater head at the junction with the north aisle.

The north aisle has a similar east window to that of the east wall of the nave except with cinquefoil heads. Three gabled eaves dormers on the north side have rose windows and floriated finials, that to the right with a 20th-century centre-hung casement inserted into a lancet. A lean-to porch below the centre dormer has a pointed cusped doorway on the east side with a hoodmould and floriated label-stops; spaces beneath are inscribed "IP / 1851". A doorway beneath in the north wall has a cambered arch and nail-studded plank door with pointed strap hinges; the superscription reads "EM / IR / 1753". A two-light 15th-century window with cambered head stands to the east of the porch. A 19th-century two-light Perpendicular-style window is positioned below the right dormer. A ridge stack to the right of centre has twin shafts and dentilled capping. The west wall has two cusped lancets and one above to the centre with a blind pointed arch. A thin gabled turret-like buttress is at the north-west corner. The vestibule linking the steeple to the church has the inscription "FROM LIGHTNING AND TEMPEST / FROM EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE / GOOD LORD DELIVER US" over a cambered arch.

Interior

The interior has been largely embellished and reworked by Parker but retains an early 15th-century three-bay north arcade with short octagonal columns and double-chamfered pointed arches. A 19th-century arch-braced roof to the nave spans seven bays with carved pendant bosses and gilded bosses at the intersection of panels; hammer beams stand over the rood screen. A similar but slightly less elaborate roof in four bays serves the north aisle. A panelled Gothic screen at the west end is supported on four clustered columns with foliage carving to capitals at the east end and similar columns alternating with demi-columns (some with stiff-leaf foliage to capitals) at the west end. A pointed doorway in the north wall leads to an upper room, formerly a schoolroom and latterly used as a vestry and library. A restored 15th-century rood screen has vine-trail decoration and carvings of animals (including a hare) to the cornice. Nine lights below (including a centre opening) display a variety of Gothic tracery patterns; brattishing above the cornice is largely original, though crocketed finials were added by Parker. The screen continues across the north aisle with nine one-bay divisions featuring Gothic tracery patterns, a crenellated cornice and attached carving. An organ gallery in the north aisle, erected in 1835, has blind Gothic tracery pattern supported on two cast-iron columns (painted to resemble wood). A contemporary staircase to the gallery has turned balusters. A notable feature is the painted mural decoration, commissioned by Parker and restored in 1960, with foliage decoration to columns, responds, window splays and heads, and texts to walls and arches of the north arcade.

An octagonal font with painted carved decoration is said to date to around 1660 but may be a medieval font recut; it rests on a possibly 12th-century scalloped base. A reredos and altar with blind Gothic tracery patterns are by Parker; communion rails, also by him, incorporate medieval tracery patterns, probably taken from the screen. Repositioned mid-19th-century benches furnish the nave and north aisle. A late 18th or 19th-century 'porter's' chair in the sanctuary was donated to the church in 1971.

Stained glass includes an east window to the north aisle in memory of Lieutenant John Donne (died 1851); an east window commemorating Reverend James Donne (died 1844) and his second wife, Alice (died 1841); and a chancel south window to Elias Owen, vicar from 1892 to 1898.

Monuments

A massive wall memorial to Sir John Bridgeman (died 1747), erected in 1752 by his daughter Judeth, features a eulogistic inscription with large volutes to left and right, a Rococo cartouche below and a decorated urn flanked by volutes at the top. It is located in the north aisle, north side, and is by J.M. Rysbrack. A wall memorial to Sir John's wife, Ursula (died 1719), with a seated putto to the top, is in the north aisle on the east wall, by Thomas White of Worcester. A monument to Roger Mathews (died 1673), similar to Lady Ursula Bridgeman's and erected around 1736, is in the sanctuary north of the east window, also by White. A small wall memorial to Rees Tanat (died 1661) with a grotesque head to the bottom is south of the east window. Cartouches flanking the east arch of the north arcade commemorate John Bridgeman (died 1796, left) and George Bridgeman (died 1717, right). The south wall of the chancel has a memorial to Susanna Godolphin and to other members of the Tanat family (no date), with a small cartouche to Owen Tanat (died 1668) immediately to the right. A hatchment to the Godolphin family adorns the north wall of the nave. The former schoolroom has a tablet inscribed "This / School-house / was erected A.D. / 1719" on its west wall. A 20th-century lean-to toilet to the west of the north porch is not of special architectural interest.