Church Of St Michael And All Angels

Church of St Michael and All Angels

An Anglican parish church of 14th-century origin, substantially rebuilt in the 15th century and undergoing thorough restoration in 1889. The building is constructed of squared dressed stone to the tower and sections of the aisles, with the remainder in coursed rubble with stone dressings and ashlar to parapets and copings. The roofs are laid in stone slate.

The church comprises a five-bay nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, and a south porch.

The south aisle features a moulded plinth, buttresses with set-offs, and an embattled parapet. Four 3-light 15th-century windows appear beneath pointed heads with hoodmoulds. The north aisle has an identical arrangement but includes a central Tudor-arched doorway with hoodmould and a plank door.

The chancel's south side contains one 2-light 15th-century window beneath a flat head with face stops to the hoodmould, and a pointed-arched doorway with a plank door and single-cusped-light opening to its right. The north side has a similar arrangement but without the door. A 3-light 15th-century east window sits beneath a pointed head with restored tracery and 19th-century face stops to the hoodmould.

The three-stage tower features moulded string courses, diagonal buttresses with set-offs, and gargoyles below the embattled parapet. The west facade displays a pointed-arched 15th-century doorway within a square surround with hoodmould and plank door, above which sits a 3-light 15th-century window under a pointed head. The second stage on all faces has a single lancet opening. The bell stage contains 2-cusped-light openings with stone slate louvres and a clock to the east face.

The south porch has a moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses, and embattled parapet. Its pointed-arched entrance is fitted with 2-leaf 19th-century plank doors. The inner doorway features a moulded architrave with paterae stops to the hoodmould and a 19th-century plank door.

The interior displays five-bay nave arcades with octagonal piers and double-wave-moulded pointed arches. A 15th-century wagon roof covers the nave, with 15th-century roofs carrying carved bosses to the aisles, and a 19th-century barrel vault to the chancel. Rood stairs rise to the left of the chancel arch, with a squint opening to the right. A 19th-century aumbry sits on the chancel south wall.

The furnishings include sections of 15th-century painting on the nave arcade arches and north wall. An early 14th-century font at the tower door below the gallery has an octagonal base and bowl with a late 16th-century pyramidal wooden cover. An 18th-century west gallery features original panelled front and sides with renewed substructure and stairs to the left. A cast iron Coalbrookdale churchwardens' chest of 1813 stands at the foot of the gallery stairs. A massive organ of 1905 occupies the gallery.

A badly decayed wooden panel bearing a William and Mary coat of arms hangs on the vestry west wall. Further royal arms, painted on canvas in 1728, appear above the south door. A fine 1748 wall monument to John Weeks features an architectural composition with fluted Ionic half-columns and broken pediment. A 19th-century oil painting of an avenging angel hangs on the east wall of the north aisle.

An elegant 1630 wooden pulpit, supported on carved gryphons and lions with a backboard framed by a carved lion and unicorn, features a hexagonal tester. The stained glass includes late 19th-century work to the third window east in the north aisle and the east window of the chancel. The chancel north and south windows to the west contain richer glass of 1909, while the single-light chancel windows to the east hold 1900 glass. A fine 1633 altar table displays carved balusters and round-arched arcading.