Church Of St Michael The Archangel

The Church of St Michael the Archangel is a parish church largely dating to the 13th century. A Saxon-Norman tower from around 1070 exists, along with a north doorway of around 1150. The south arcade, north aisle, and chancel were constructed in the 13th century. The south windows were likely replaced around 1630, the south porch in the 15th century, and a north porch was added in 1754, with minor renovations occurring in 1890. The church comprises a three-bay chancel, a four-bay nave with a south aisle, a north porch, a south porch, and a wide, squat west tower, historically used as a refuge.

The building is constructed of stone rubble, with coursed stone to the nave and ashlar repairs to the tower, all covered by tiled roofs. The west tower of 1070 features corner square turrets and clasping buttresses, added around 1380, with a billet frieze. The southwest turret has three Norman openings. The southwest front has a lancet with a 14th-century trefoliated head, and the west front has a four-centred arched window with a hood moulding. The east front contains a double Norman paired lancet. The north front displays trefoliated windows. A round-headed arch marks the base of the tower; until 1779, the tower housed the town gun.

The north doorway, dating to around 1150, has two orders of columns with decorated scallop capitals, and a tympanum depicting a bearded man in a long robe grasping two lions—one with a frontal head, the other in profile—with long tails sprouting into ornamental forms. The north porch of 1754 has a gabled design with coping and kneelers, a round-headed arch with a drip moulding, and columns. The nave features buttresses and three tall arched windows dating to around 1812. The chancel is from the 13th century, with three bays, bar tracery with round section mullions, and paired lancets with trefoils. It has two windows on the south side and three on the north front. The east window, also from the 13th century, features three lancets and three circular lights above, with inserted quatrefoils.

The south aisle, dating to 1270, has an east window with three lancets and tracery above. A cross-shaped saddlestone is present. The south front contains one triple mullioned window with a hood moulding and three triple lancets with tracery above. The west window has two paired lancets in a large arch. The south porch is from the 15th century and is constructed of coursed stone rubble with a deep plinth, tiled roof, lancet windows, and a wide arched doorcase with a hood moulding.

The interior features a 13th-century south arcade with round piers, round abaci, and double-chamfered arches dying into the piers. The nave and north aisle have a 15th-century crownpost roof. The nave contains an early 17th-century octagonal pulpit with perspective arches to the upper layer of panelling and diamonds to the lower layer, including a book rest on brackets. C18 box pews with H-hinges are also present, alongside a Royal Coat of Arms of George IV and a floor tablet of around 1687. The north aisle includes a 13th-century column-shaped font, a trefoliated-headed piscina with a sexfoil drain, and a stone reredos dated 1630. Most windows are from the 17th century and retain Gothic styling. A wooden reredos dating to around 1908 incorporates old wood. Three early 19th-century wall plaques with urns are present, one signed J. Bacon, London.