Church Of St Michael At Plea

The Church of St Michael-at-Plea is a 15th-century parish church, now redundant. It is constructed of flint with stone and brick dressings, and has lead roofs. The church comprises a west tower, a nave, a chancel, north and south transepts, a south chancel chapel, and a south porch.

The three-stage west tower has diagonal buttresses and a three-light 19th-century Perpendicular window with a pointed arch on its west face. Two-light belfry windows are present, alongside a square sound hole on the east face. A clockface from 1827 is located on the south side, and the tower is topped by a crenellated parapet with corner pinnacles.

The four-bay nave has a stone quatrefoil plinth band and four three-light Perpendicular windows with two-centre arched openings. The two-storied south porch features an outer doorway with attached shafts and a two-centre arch with a dripmould. The spandrels of the arch are worn; the left-hand one depicts St. Michael with the dragon. Statue niches flank the door, featuring ogee heads and a finial. A flushwork band sits above the doorway, and three first-floor openings are set beneath a continuous dripmould. The two outer windows have cusped ogee tracery, while the central niche contains a 19th-century statue. A 20th-century parapet tops the porch. The church door is of good quality carved timber, with an outer border of quatrefoils and four inner panels displaying complex blind tracery.

The south transept and chancel chapel are continuous, with three- and four-light Perpendicular windows. The south and east walls of the chapel are rendered. The east wall of the chancel is also rendered and features a three-light Perpendicular window. The nave has an arch-braced roof with longitudinal braces and angels at ridge level. A corner wall monument bears an inscription to Jaques de Hern on the left panel and an incised depiction of a family group on the right panel.