Church of St Michael is a Grade I listed building in the East Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 October 1949. A Early C15 Church. 1 related planning application.
Church of St Michael
- WRENN ID
- tired-panel-willow
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- East Hertfordshire
- Constituency
- Hertford and Stortford MP: Josh Dean (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 October 1949
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St Michael, High Street, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3SN
- OS grid reference
- TL 486 213
- Coordinates
- 51.87081, 0.15739
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Michael, located on High Street, is primarily an early 15th-century structure built of flint with stone dressings. The upper stage of the tower was added in 1812, constructed from brick and stone, and features a lead spire. The church has an embattled nave and side aisles with buttressed walls, showcasing rich perpendicular tracery and projecting porches on the north and south sides. The 19th-century chancel includes a clerestorey and a west window. The tower's upper storey is adorned with two-light traceried windows and a clock on each face, topped with a quatrefoiled and crenellated parapet.
Inside, the church boasts a high nave arcade with six bays supported by slim, moulded piers. The original timber roofs of the nave and aisles feature tie beams with traceried spandrels supported by decorative corbels. The choir area has three lower arcades on the north side, a 19th-century roof, and 15th-century choir stalls with a screed that includes an 1885 vaulted canopy. There are trefoiled sedilia and a hexagonal pulpit from 1658 in Jacobean style, featuring feigned perspective panels. The font is topped with purbeck marble from the 12th century. Original oak doors are present at the north and south entrances. The upper part of the tower has been converted into a study room, while the ground floor is enclosed by a 19th-century traceried glazed screen. The west window was designed by Kempe in 1877. The churchyard contains several early 19th-century Greek Revival tombs. This church is a notable example of an early 15th-century church in Hertfordshire and has been well restored in the 19th century, serving as a dominant landmark in the town.
Local climate
Church of St Michael sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 91% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 86% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 55% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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