Church Of Saint Michael

The Church of Saint Michael is an Anglican parish church with origins dating back to the 13th century. The tower was constructed in the 14th century, the south aisle in the 15th century, and a north aisle in the 17th century. A restoration occurred, and a vestry was added at the end of the 19th century. The church is built with rubble stone walls, with slated roofs over the chancel and nave, and stone slated roofing over the vestry, all featuring coped gables. The aisles have flat roofs with parapets.

The church comprises a nave, north and south aisles of two bays each, a chancel with a north-facing vestry, and a west tower. The tower is two stages high, with diagonal buttresses at the base, a plain parapet, string courses at the base of the parapet and between the two stages, and plain rectangular belfry lights. A west door features a moulded pointed arch, with a shallow square recess to the left. Above the door, to the right, is a carved stone figure of Saint Michael, likely of Saxon origin. The south aisle has a battlemented parapet and a moulded string course below, featuring carved gargoyles. It contains two three-light square headed windows with Perpendicular tracery, and a pointed arched east window with Perpendicular tracery. A blocked doorway is visible in the south chancel wall, alongside a small lancet at the west end. There are two two-light pointed arched windows with Perpendicular tracery on the chancel's south wall, and a 19th-century east window with matching tracery. The north wall has a pointed arched window with Perpendicular tracery, and a two-light square headed window with cusped lights in the vestry wall. The north aisle has a plain parapet and two three-light square headed windows with Perpendicular tracery.

Internally, the walls are plastered. The chancel features a waggon roof with a deep plaster moulded cornice, which is unplastered. The 13th-century chancel arch has continuous deep roll mouldings, without shafts or capitals. To the south of the arch is a passage to the nave and a small lancet window, providing light to the former rood stair. The south arcade, also from the 13th century, has moulded round arches and piers with attached shafts supporting stiff leaf caps. A trefoiled piscina is located in the aisle. The north arcade, originally 13th century, has similar arches, but the piers were rebuilt or altered clumsily in the 19th century. A monument to Audeley and Margaret Grey, dated 1723, stands on the north aisle wall, featuring Corinthian pilasters supporting an entablature and crest. A monument to George Pitt, dated 1784, with a carved bust, is on the west wall of the aisle. Late medieval stained glass is present in the aisle windows. The 14th-century tower arch has shafts with moulded caps. The nave roof is arch braced and dates to the 19th century. A late medieval square font with an arcaded bowl is also present. The church is known as "Mellstock Church" due to its appearance in the novels of Thomas Hardy.