Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael, Winterbourne

This is an Anglican parish church of 12th-century origin, substantially rebuilt and extended during the 13th and 14th centuries, with significant mid to late 19th-century restoration and extension work. The building is constructed of rubble with freestone dressings, and is roofed in slate and concrete double roman tiles with raised coped verges and saddlestones.

The church comprises a chancel, nave, south transeptal tower, south porch, south organ chamber, north aisle, north chapel and north vestry. The architectural style is predominantly Decorated.

The chancel dates from the 12th century and features pilaster buttresses and a round-headed priest's door chamfered around a keel moulding, with a good plank door fitted with fish-tail bands. The south wall has a 2-light window, with a similar 2-light window on the north wall set beneath corbelled tabelling. The roof and east end were raised in 1856 to accommodate a tall 3-lancet window inserted at that time.

The nave is gabled and comprises four bays, with a tall 4-light west window rebuilt in 1843. The south wall has 2-light windows, one of which is literally squeezed between the porch and tower.

The south porch is gabled with diagonal buttresses. It features a chamfered pointed arch entrance, a single light above, and 2 cusped lights at the east and west. Inside, the doorway is reset from the original west end position and stands between jamb shafts with foliate capitals, topped by a heavy rounded cinquefoil arch with a rounded drip moulding.

The south transeptal tower is of three stages. The first stage has weathered diagonal buttresses with cusped niches, a 3-light south window and small single lights above. A large west stair turret with a lean-to roof rises at this level. The second stage is plain and shallow, with a south clock face. The third stage, the bell chamber, has 2-light cusped windows with mullion and transom divisions. Corner pilasters rise to panelled and crocketed finials with a trefoil pierced parapet between them. The tower is topped with an octagonal, ribbed ashlar spire erected in 1871, which replaced an earlier spire struck by lightning (part of which is retained behind Hambrook House nearby).

The south organ chamber dates from 1895 and is gabled with a large weathered buttress.

The north aisle comprises four bays, buttressed and gabled, and was rebuilt in 1843. It has 2-light windows above a pointed door with double chamfer and roll moulding, and a 3-light window at the west end.

The gabled north chapel has a 2-light north window and a 3-light east window.

A flat-roofed north vestry was added in the late 19th century.

Interior

The chancel retains a rolled eaves string course. The chancel arch has foliate capitals. The nave features a rebuilt 8-bay hammerbeam roof. The tower arch is formed by a half-engaged column with round caps beneath an arch with hood mould. A piscine survives, together with glazed and rood squints. East and west pointed tower arches and a similar massive rere-arch to the south window are present. Giant curved corbels rise above. A cusped piscina is located at the south-east corner. Remnants of wall paintings survive, showing chevrons to arch chamfers and foliage within; heraldry appears on the window arch and roses on the corbels.

The rebuilt 4-bay north aisle has a roof matching the nave, with shaft and hollow piers.

The north Manor chapel, restored around 1880, features another mock medieval roof.

Fittings and Memorials

A reredos of 1856 contains a carved Last Supper by Farmer. A perpendicular stone pulpit dates from 1877. A 17th-century font has a hollow moulded octagonal stem and gadrooned bowl.

A reclining cross-legged knight with feet resting on a lion, reset from a former tower chapel in a cusped and crocketed niche, survives in the wall of the aisle. The Manor chapel contains 14th-century monuments to Richard (died 1355) and Isabel Bradeston and their son John (died 1372) and his wife, depicted as fine reclining courtly figures. A similar unknown female figure is also present. A brass, probably depicting another Bradeston of circa 1370, is of good quality. A memorial to John Buck of 1612 features Ionic columns and shields on a chest tomb, with Corinthian columns and a frieze above.

In the chancel, a fine wall memorial of 1662 to Amy Symer is executed in marble, with an aedicule featuring twisted Composite columns, an open pediment with scallop shell, and cherubim. Early 19th-century tablets by O. Greenway and T. Paty are also present.

In the tower, an early 19th-century tablet showing Christ ascending was sculpted by Crinway.