Parish Church Of St Michael

The Parish Church of St Michael is a historic church with origins dating back to the 12th century. It was enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries and underwent restoration, including the rebuilding of the chancel around 1855. The church features stone walls and stone slate roofs with coped gables. Its layout includes a nave, chancel, north transept, south vestry, south porch, and a west tower.

The tower, built in the 16th century, has two stages and a string course, with a projecting stair turret on the north side and a plain parapet. The belfry has 2-light mullioned windows with stone louvres, and the west doorway is blocked, with a large traceried window above it. The south porch was added around 1855, while the vestry, originally a chapel, dates back to the 16th century. The south wall of the nave features three 15th-century square-headed 2-light windows and one high-level window at the west end. The south doorway, dating from the 12th century, has two orders with plain imposts and square jambs.

The north transept, built in the 17th century, includes a 4-centred arched doorway in the east wall, which displays the Coat of Arms of Lawrence quartering Washington. It also has 3-light square-headed windows. The north wall of the nave contains one lancet window and a blocked doorway. Inside, the nave features a plastered barrel vault with moulded ribs and bosses, which include the renewed Coats of Arms of Lawrence quartering Washington. Other roofs in the church are from the 19th century. The font is from the 13th century, and the altar rails are early 19th century. There are two bells on the tower floor, one from the 16th century and the other from the 17th century.

The Lawrence family, who have been Lords of the Manor since the 16th century, married into the Washington family in 1381, and their Coat of Arms incorporates the Stars and Stripes. Surrounding the churchyard is a stone boundary wall, which contains several 18th and 19th-century headstones.