Church Of St Michael And All Angels

Church of St Michael and All Angels

This Anglican parish church at How Hill, Twerton, represents a substantial rebuild of a medieval structure. The tower dates from the 15th century, while the remainder of the church was rebuilt in Perpendicular style in 1839 by G P Manners. The building was then reconstructed again to the designs of E W Buckle between 1885 and 1886 at a cost of £2,600, though this work incorporated a 12th-century north doorway from the earlier fabric.

The church is constructed of limestone ashlar or squared and coursed stone with slate or lead roofs. The plan comprises a nave, north and south aisles, a north porch, an organ chamber and vestry flanking the chancel, and a west tower.

The 15th-century tower rises in three stages with a plinth, stepped diagonal buttresses, a northeast stair turret, a crenellated parapet and corner pinnacles. The bell stage features small two-light Perpendicular windows on the north and south sides, equipped with stone louvres. The west front displays a three-light 19th-century window with a drip-mould carried across as a string course, and plank doors set in a moulded arch.

The south aisle, with its low-pitched lead roof, has a continuous ashlar crenellated parapet above four three-light windows separated by deep two-stage buttresses carried through to diagonal pinnacles, with diagonal corner buttresses to square pinnacles, and a four-light west window. Two lead downpipes with hopperheads are dated 1885. The slate-roofed nave has a coped gable with a terminal stone cross, and the lower chancel roof sweeps down to the original vestry and a large ashlar stack with paired octagonal shafts, with a 20th-century extension. The chancel has a two-light window and crenellated parapet but a coped east gable with a terminal cross, and a corner pinnacle with decorative capping. The east end has a five-light window with returns matching those on the south side. The north aisle is similar to the south aisle but features a deep porch in the first bay, with a high crenellated gable and returns, and a wide pointed doorway. The inner doorway is Norman, with the left jamb having a spiral column and the right displaying chevron pattern decoration with a chevron arch, leading to a 19th-century plank door. Between the aisle and organ chamber stands a prominent octagonal pinnacle.

The interior contains four-bay arcades with columns in four rolls and four hollows supporting broad pointed arches, with an eight-bay arched-braced roof on brattished plates. The aisle roofs are panelled and boarded. The tower arch has very broad wave and hollow mouldings carried right round, and a southeast buttress appears partly inside the nave. The walls are plastered and the floors are stone slab, with wood block in pewed areas. The carpeted chancel rises on a series of single steps and has a flat panelled barrel roof, with a timber screen closing an arch to the organ loft.

The church contains an almost complete set of pews with fine 19th-century carved bench ends, possibly from the time of the main rebuilding. The chancel has fine carved stalls and a marble reredos with delicate high relief depicting the Last Supper under bold decorative ogee arches. Adjacent oak panelling incorporates a large carved angel on each side, with stone sedilia and piscina. The pulpit incorporates three carved figures, and there is a carved oak lectern; these fittings are probably late 19th or early 20th century. A 19th-century stone octagonal font stands at the west end.

The main east window contains stained glass, but most windows are plain glass except for two memorial figures in the north aisle. Most 19th-century glass was destroyed by blast during the Second World War.

Various memorials from the earlier fabric are built into the walls. Several are simple square tablets from the 18th century. To the south of the tower arch is an elliptical baroque white marbled wreath enclosing a black slate tablet with naively carved verses, commemorating T H, who died in 1681. The tower contains further tablets, mainly from the early to mid-19th century.

This building represents a very complete version of a late medieval church recreated in the 19th century, initially before the main impact of Tractarianism and Ecclesiology, and then again after their principal influence had waned. The complete original fittings are especially remarkable.