Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a Grade I listed building with Anglo-Saxon origins, located on the north side of Highworth High Street. The church features Norman and Early English elements, though these are mostly remnants from a late 15th-century remodeling. It underwent restoration in 1861 and 1862, designed by architect J. W. Hugall of London.

This cruciform church includes a four-bay aisled nave, a two-bay chancel with a later sanctuary, and a west tower. It is constructed from rubble and ashlar, set on a high moulded plinth, and has a stone tile roof that is screened by a pierced parapet adorned with cusped quartrefoils and crocketted finials, with an embattled section on the north side of the chancel. The large Perpendicular style windows are separated by set-off buttresses, and the transepts appear to have been added later, featuring 19th-century windows.

The three-stage embattled tower includes moulded strings, a cornice string with carved heads, and diagonal buttresses topped with modern replicas of original heraldic beasts. The tower has dripmoulds above square-headed windows. An arched doorway on the west side features an angel at the imposts and a key of the label, with a 15th-century canopied niche above the window housing a 20th-century statue of Christ. There are marks said to have been made by a cannonball in 1645, which is now displayed in Warnford Chapel.

The two-storey south porch is believed to date from the 13th century but has been significantly remodeled in the 15th century, featuring a triple niche above the entrance. Inside, there is a 13th-century altered arcade with an extra bay indicating the former crossing tower's position and a fan-vaulted ceiling in the tower. A Norman tympanum carved with Samson and The Lion has been reset above the south door. The church contains three 15th-century misericords and a font from around 1500. The Warnford Chapel, located south of the chancel, showcases a notable collection of memorials with varying styles of inscriptions. The well-stocked graveyard features numerous headstones and table tombs dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries, along with mid-19th-century railings on the south side.