Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is an Anglican parish church dating to 1877-8, with the tower added in 1883, designed by C.E. Ponting. The church is constructed of flint with squared sarsen stone banding, and Bath stone quoin and dressings. It comprises a nave with a north aisle and a south porch, a west tower, and a chancel with a north transeptual organ chamber, and a vestry to the south. The gabled porch features diamond flint and stone patterning, terminating in an iron cross. It contains two-light windows with quatrefoiled heads, and one three-light window with a panelled head. The chancel has square-headed windows and a Geometric east window. The tall, slender tower has four stages with corner buttresses, a south-east stair, and elongated perforated bell openings. The parapet includes corner tourelles and Lombardic table decoration. The north aisle features four groups of triple quatrefoiled lights, and incorporates a re-used 14th-century west window.

Inside, the nave has a four-bay north arcade with alternate quatrefoiled and round columns supporting twice chamfered arches. The roof is a four-bay structure with hammer-beam trusses, arch braces to collars, and open rafters. A handsome tower arch, of three orders with inner triple impost columns and scrolled tail stops to the hoodmould, is present. A doorway on the south side leads to a reset rood loft. The chancel arch rests on stilted corbels with verde antico shafts. The chancel is of Tractarian design, with the east wall tiled below a string of gilded tiles displaying an inscription. A double piscina is located on the north side, and the south window sill has been lowered to create sedilia. The pointed boarded barrel roof in the chancel is a notable feature. The tower has a quadripartite vault and a central bell opening.

Notable fittings include a 15th-century style font with quatrefoil panels, an oak panelled pulpit, a brass sanctuary rail, and a 19th-century oak eagle lectern. The church contains some good 19th-century glass from 1875, 1885-8, and twelve apostle windows dated 1898. Monuments include an 18th-century marble wall tablet to Mortimer Powell, who died in 1728, incorporating recessed pilasters, a flat cornice with urns, and a central crest. In the nave, a tablet from 1971 and three early 20th-century brasses are displayed. Bronze tablets on the west wall commemorate Lord Kennet of the Dene, and his wife, Kathleen Scott, a sculptor who died in 1947. The church is recognized as an ambitious design by an architect otherwise known for restoration work, situated in a prominent position.