Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

A parish church at Cardeston, originally dating from 1749 and incorporating probable 12th-century fragments. The building was substantially remodelled with a west tower and link block added in 1844 (marked by a datestone), and further restored with a vestry added in 1905.

The church is constructed of uncoursed Alberbury breccia with red and grey sandstone ashlar dressing, beneath plain tile roofs. It comprises a 4-bay nave, a one-bay chancel with north vestry, and a short link block connecting to the west tower.

The 1844 remodelling adopted a free Perpendicular style. The tower rises in three stages: a square lower stage and middle stage with splays rising to an octagonal belfry. The tower features a chamfered plinth, diagonal buttresses with chamfered offsets to the lower stage, moulded string courses, and a battlemented parapet with pyramidal cap and weathervane. The belfry openings on the cardinal faces are 4-centred arches, each containing two ogee cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, chamfered reveals, and returned hoodmoulds. The middle stage has gabled lucarnes with 4-centred arched windows. The first stage contains pairs of boarded doors to the south and west, each with deeply moulded 4-centred arches and returned hoodmoulds, and a 4-centred arched north window with chamfered reveals. A shield above the south door bears the date 1844.

The short narrow link block to the nave features small 4-centred chamfered arched windows to north and south. The nave has a chamfered plinth to the south and plain plinth to the north, with moulded eaves cornice to the south and dentil brick eaves cornice to the north. The gable ends are chamfered and coped with parapets and moulded keelers, and there is an external square stack to the north-east. The 4-centred arched windows to the south contain two ogee cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, chamfered reveals, and returned hoodmoulds; a single ogee cinquefoil-headed window lights the north-east. An illegible 18th-century datestone is set in the west gable.

The chancel has a chamfered-coped parapeted gable end with a cross at its apex. A one-light window to the south has an ogee cinquefoil head and chamfered reveals. The east window is a 4-centred arch containing three cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, moulded cill, chamfered reveals, and returned hoodmould. A fragment of carved red sandstone tracery is visible in the wall to the right.

The vestry has a parapeted gable to its front and a stack with moulded cornice. Its window has two ogee-headed lights. A boarded crypt doorway to the left features chamfered reveals, and a nail-studded boarded door in the right-hand return front has strap hinges and chamfered reveals.

Interior

The nave roof is 19th-century with four bays, featuring billet-decorated frieze and tie-beams with reused 18th-century king posts and single purlins (planted timber on the western gable end). The chancel has a waggon roof dating from 1905. The chancel arch, of circa 1905, is double-chamfered and springs from corbels. The east window has a chamfered rear arch and moulded mullions; the south window has a probably 12th-century roll-moulded rear arch.

The west gallery incorporates a beam dated "16 RT 78" with ovolo moulding and ogee stops, 19th-century chamfered end posts and brackets, a moulded cornice and balustrade. The gallery stairs are 17th-century with square newel posts. A 17th-century door beneath has H-pattern hinges and a baluster in the opening to the left.

A possibly 17th-century stone font stands in the vestibule, with an octagonal base and bowl; its cover is dated 1926. Other fittings include a 17th-century communion table and pair of chairs, and a parish chest in the vestibule dated 1703. The altar rails and lectern date from 1879; the screen and pulpit from 1905; and the choir stalls from 1935. A barrel organ of 1850 by Theodore C. Bates of Ludgate Hill was recorded as kept in the church but was not evident at the time of the survey in June 1985.

On the north wall is a 19th-century mural depicting St John the Baptist meeting Christ on the banks of the Jordan. Most windows feature diamond-leaded glass; stained glass in the east window dates from 1912.

Historical Context

Cardeston church is first recorded in 1276. The 1844 alterations and additions were largely financed by Sir Balwin Leighton, lord of the manor and patron of the living. A series of drawings and watercolours documents the church following the 18th-century and 1849 rebuildings and before the 1905 restoration, showing the former round chancel arch.