Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

Parish church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, restored around 1833 and mainly rebuilt around 1870 by Henry Stone. The building comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, vestry, and a 15th-century west tower.

The exterior is constructed in stone, flint and septaria with stone dressings. The roofs are of plain red tile with pierced and scalloped ridge tiles and cross finials. The chancel has angle buttresses and two southern buttresses. The east window has three lights with a trefoiled roundel above under a two-centred arched head, with stone and flint dressings to the arch. A single light north window has a stopped label. Two southern windows flank a blocked two-centred arched doorway. A two-light eastern window with tracery above has a two-centred arched head and label with head stops. The western window has two lights with a centre transom and segmental pointed head.

The nave's north wall contains four buttresses beneath a quatrefoiled cornice. East and west walls have three-light windows with cusped roundels and trefoils above under two-centred arched heads and labels with head stops. Two buttresses flank the central porch, which features niches and gables with finials. The porch itself is gabled and buttressed with a moulded two-centred arched doorway with moulded capitals and bases to double shafts, a label with head stops, and double vertically boarded doors with ornate hinges.

The south aisle contains three three-light, two-centred arched windows with labels and foliate stops, set between four buttresses. The south vestry has two buttresses and two two-centred arched windows with head stops and moulded labels with stone dressing. The east wall holds a rose window with label and foliate stops, and a flint and stone two-centred arched doorway with Caernarvon head.

The west tower stands in three stages with diagonal buttresses containing four offsets. It features flint flushwork crenellations and a plinth frieze with shields and foliate centres to quatrefoils. An octagonal stair turret rises to the south east with a decorative raised profile. The belfry openings are tall moulded two-centred arches with two lights and centre transoms. A clock occupies the second stage of the north face, with small lights to the east, south and west. The west window contains three ogee lights with tracery above, and the west doorway is moulded with a two-centred arch, labels and foliate stops.

Interior

The chancel roof has arched braces with pierced spandrels resting on stone corbels with moulded crossed king posts. A double piscina, chamfered with curved bases to round heads, a rear shelf, and two round drains, probably dates from the 14th century. A 19th or 20th-century linenfold reredos and altar table occupy the space. Segmental pointed arches open to the south vestry and organ chamber, possibly medieval in origin. A segmental arch to the north wall features 19th-century stained glass. Nineteenth-century altar rails and choirstalls are present. The chancel arch is moulded with a two-centred head and head stops to the label.

The nave and aisles feature roofs with stone corbels supporting the principal rafters of seven-cant construction. A 19th-century timber panelled pulpit on a splayed stem stands in the nave. The north and south aisles comprise three bays with moulded bases and capitals to alternating circular and octagonal columns. The arches between are moulded with two-centred heads and ball flower decoration. A sunk chamfered segmental head marks a north doorway. A 20th-century octagonal font with pointed quatrefoils to its panels stands within. Nineteenth and 20th-century stained glass fills all windows. A church chest sits against the north wall.

The tower arch has chamfered and moulded jambs with moulded bases and capitals, and a chamfered and moulded two-centred arch. A chamfered two-centred arched doorway leads to the stair turret with a vertically boarded door and wrought hinges. The porch has a five-cant roof and three-light side windows with shafts between.