Church Of St Michael

CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL, BRERETON

This parish church was built in 1837 by Thomas Trubshaw, architect of Haywood, and was enlarged in 1878 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The tower was remodelled by John Oldrid Scott in 1887. It is constructed in ashlar grey sandstone with tile roofs.

The church follows an unusual cruciform plan in which the transepts are offset to the west side, with aisles to their east. A north-west tower and spire rises from the building, with a south-west vestry and west porch completing the arrangement.

Externally, the church is principally in the Early English style. The chancel has a two-light geometrical east window flanked by single lancets, with lancets in the north and south walls. The aisles have three stepped lancets to east windows, each with shafts beneath a super arch, and two lancets in north and south walls. The transepts have clasping buttresses and two-light north and south windows, with the north transept featuring a west lancet. The narrow north-west tower houses the gallery stair and has a pointed doorway and narrow stair light. The upper stage, dated 1887, turns octagonal above its base and has lancets under gables with large sculpted head stops, surmounted by a stone spire. The nave west window mirrors the east window in design, positioned above a timber-framed porch with glazed side panels. Above the porch entrance are inscription bands and cusped barge boards. The nave west doorway is dated 1837 in the tympanum. The vestry has lancet windows and a trefoil-headed doorway.

Internally, although the parts are of different dates, Scott unified the design of the transepts and arcades with arches on corbelled responds and octagonal piers in the arcades, all with hoodmoulds featuring foliage stops. The chancel windows have rere arches, the east being particularly rich with ringed marble shafts and a stiff-leaf impost band. The nave and chancel are spanned by a single six-bay queen-post roof of 1837, which has pendants, moulded cornice, purlins and ridge, and incorporates X-shaped panels over the sanctuary. The transepts have similar two-bay roofs, while the aisles have keeled cradle roofs. The walls are plastered and the floor is laid in red and black tiles with floorboards beneath the pews.

The principal fixtures form a cohesive scheme of the later nineteenth century. The chancel north and south walls display sgraffito work by Heywood Sumner of 1897, originally continuing across the east wall, showing archangels in the spandrels linked by foliage trails in a manner resembling continental Jugendstil work—an unusual feature for England. A raked west gallery of 1837 stands on two posts with an elaborate open trefoil-arcaded front; its benches were removed in 1878 to be replaced by the organ. The division between nave and chancel is marked by a painted stone screen base of trefoil arches similar to the gallery design. The font, dating to around 1878, has a square bowl with trefoil arcading on a marble stem with detached corner shafts. The pews have moulded edges with arm rests and open-panel backs, forming a consistent series throughout the interior. The richly detailed Gothic pulpit dates to around 1895. The choir stalls have frontals with open arcading and moulded ends, matching the pews. The communion rail has octagonal balusters, likely of 1878. The painted wooden reredos of 1884, showing the crucifixion and angels, is by Burlison & Grylls. Stained glass includes archangels in the chancel north and south windows by Ward & Hughes (1882), an east window showing scenes from the life of Christ by Ward & Hughes (1878), and a north-aisle east window depicting the Good Shepherd by Burlison & Grylls (1878).

The enlargement of 1878 was among the last works undertaken by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the most prolific Gothic-Revival architect of the nineteenth century. He rebuilt the transept arches and added aisles on the east sides of the transepts. The upper part of the tower and spire were rebuilt in 1887 by his son John Oldrid Scott. A west porch was added in the late nineteenth century and the south-west vestry in 1894, as indicated by a date stone on the building. A church hall was constructed in 1977 by Wood, Goldstraw & Yorath, linked to the vestry by covered walkway.

A modern lych-gate of the late nineteenth century stands to the north-east.