Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, with tower repairs in 1855 and a restoration in 1864-5 by R.C. Hussey. It is constructed of flint with rubble, and has plain tiled roofs. The church comprises a nave with aisles, a chancel with north and south chapels, a south porch, and a west tower with a priest's room. The west tower is three-stage, with a string course to the parapet and a three-stage octagonal stair turret. It features a 19th-century west doorway, simple Perpendicular windows, and belfry openings. The nave and aisles are under a single roof. The south aisle has three offset buttresses and 19th-century Perpendicular style windows. A 14th-century doorway with a hollow-chamfered roll-moulded arch and a hood mould with carved head stops is found in the south porch. The south and north chapels are similar, with two 19th-century lancets in each and a double lancet east window to the south chapel. The east window is a 19th-century three-light curvilinear design; the three chancels are separately roofed. The north aisle has three three-light Perpendicular windows and a hollow-chamfered doorway. A north-west lean-to priest's or anchorite's room features steps down to a basement doorway and has a restored chimney. Inside, the nave features a hollow-chamfered tower arch, a three-bay arcade to the aisles with octagonal piers, double hollow-chamfered arches, and a panelled canted ceiling; the aisles have lean-to roofs. There are 19th-century arches from the aisles to the chapels and a chancel arch. The north and south chapels were largely rebuilt by Hussey, although they retain 13th-century plain chamfered arches on imposts into the chancel. Late 12th-century wall arcading is present in the chancel, with two full bays in the north and south walls, and one bay interrupted by arches to the chapels, incorporating attached shafts rising from a plinth with stiff leaf and palmette carved capitals. Surviving reveals are visible to the lancet east window and the north and south lancet windows. Fittings include a heavily restored angle piscina in the chancel, with a late 12th-century shaft, square abacus, and leaf-carved capital. A reredos from 1908 depicts the Last Supper in relief. A wall tablet commemorating Mary Coppin, who died in 1636, is located in the north chapel; it is constructed of black and white marble, with a plaque supported by Corinthian columns, a frieze, a broken segmental pediment with an achievement, and two descending putti.