Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church with Anglo-Saxon origins, significant additions from the 12th century, and later development, including restoration in 1851 and a tower built between 1829 and 1838. The church is constructed of rubble stone with dressings, some in brown Northants ironstone, and has lead roofs with battlemented parapets to the tower, north and south aisles, and porches. The 19th-century chancel roof is tiled, with a stone coped east gable and a cross finial. The tall, unbuttressed tower has four stages. The lower three stages are Saxon, displaying herring bone stonework and narrow arched windows. The top stage is likely 14th century, with two-light traceried belfry windows. The chancel has 13th-century lancet windows, while the east end of the aisles has 14th-century windows. 15th-century windows and both porches are also present.

Inside, the nave has three bays with Transitional Norman arches supported by round piers and square capitals. The south arcade features grotesque heads on the angles, surrounded by chevron fretting, whereas the north arcade is plain with small hood moulds. A 15th-century clerestory offers three windows on each side, and above the tower arch is a deeply recessed Norman window. Some Saxon stonework has been revealed above the north arcade. The aisles extend east beyond the chancel arch to form lower chapels, with the south chapel now housing a 19th-century organ. The nave and aisles have 15th-century timber roofs. The chancel, dating to the 13th century, was restored in the 19th, and includes a piscina and a linen bracket to the right of the altar. A 15th-century octagonal font features traceried panelling. A 17th-century pulpit is also present.

The chancel contains stone monuments, including a black marble cartouche to Catherine, wife of Thomas Newton (1680), two small brasses (one to Jas. Newton of “Ye in Ward Temple” 1690), and a wall monument commemorating members of the Newton family. A small alabaster figure, discovered on the site of Lavendon Abbey, is located in the vestry.