Church Of St Michael And All Angels

Church of St Michael and All Angels

This is an Anglican parish church of Grade I listed status, located on the south side of Church Lane in Urchfont. The building dates from the late 13th century through early 14th century, with significant additions in the 15th century and substantial restorations carried out in 1864 and 1900.

The church is constructed of limestone and greensand rubble with ashlar dressings, the chancel being entirely of ashlar. The south transept features flint infill, while the north transept employs malmstone. The roofs are principally of lead, except for stone tiles on the chancel and porch.

The building plan comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, transepts on both sides, and a chancel. All these elements date to the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The distinctive west tower was added in the late 15th century, and a vestry was constructed at right angles to the chancel in the 19th century.

The south porch is a notable feature, with gables and pinnacles rising over angle buttresses. It is roofed with stone slabs featuring stone imbrices and copings, with side walls that are crenellated. The entrance has a four-centred door with label and square stops. The south aisle contains 2-light square-headed windows, while the north aisle features windows with ogee tracery, including one 2-light example. The clerestory has 2-light windows. The transepts are distinguished by 3- and 5-light intersecting traceried gable windows. The chancel has 2-light windows with deep casement reveals between wide buttresses, gabled above the eaves. A 19th-century 3-light east window has been inserted.

The west tower rises in two stages, with angle buttresses to the lower stage and a south-west stair tower rising to the bell stage. The bell stage features 2-light openings and is crowned with a crenellated parapet carrying crocketed pinnacles. A 3-light west window and door are positioned below, with an ogee-headed cult niche to the left. The tower bears a bench mark on a buttress and two mass dials on the transept quoins.

Interior Features

The porch contains an exceptional 4-centred stone vault with trefoiled panelling. The inner door displays tendril trail and dog tooth ornament, the hood terminating in 19th-century carved heads. Above is a niche with a vault on columns and traces of red paint.

The nave arcade comprises three bays with hollow-chamfered arches supported on round columns. The walls are plastered. A door and upper opening survive from the former rood screen; the lower door has been enlarged to serve as a squint into the transept, with a further squint positioned on the south side. The floor is flagged. The roof dates to the 19th century and comprises six bays with tie-beam and collar trusses.

The tower arch is tall, rising on part-octagonal imposts. The chancel arch is four-centred and of early 13th-century date, ornamented with billet moulding on the outer order, supported on square responds with nook shafts carved with stiff-leaf foliage.

The chancel contains vaulting of outstanding quality, dating to approximately 1320–25. The vault comprises six closely spaced bays with quadripartite panels on either side of a central ridge, comparable to the vaulting of Bristol Cathedral as noted by Pevsner. The bosses at the vault intersections are carved with figures including St Michael, Abraham, a pelican, and a mermaid, with foliage adorning the side bosses. The vault springs from stilted corbels bearing masks. A priest's door on the north side passes through the buttress. The chancel contains a simple ogee piscina and a tiled floor.

The south aisle roof dates to 1791 and is simple in form; a blocked arch survives at the south-west end. The north aisle roof is dated 1631 and displays curious pendants, hammerbeam brackets, and a billet wall plate. The north transept now serves as vestry and organ chamber. The south transept has a tie-beam roof dated 1787. It contains a trefoiled piscina, partly painted, and the remains of a moulded opening, possibly a frame for a painted reredos, positioned between the east windows. These windows and the south window feature nook shafts and rere-arches, partly coloured in black and red. Wave-moulded part-arches span between the transepts and aisles. Beneath the tower stands a 15th-century door with tracery head leading to the stair tower.

The chancel contains stained glass by Wailes and others. The east window dates to 1889. The heads of the east-side windows feature 14th-century angels holding crowns.

Monuments

The chancel south side contains a wall monument of 18th-century date, executed by R. Scheemakers in black and white marbles. The composition features a black sarcophagus on a table with a tall pyramid to its rear. Two busts in Roman dress sit upon the lid, flanked by solemn angels bearing an hourglass and an upturned torch. Cushioned and mantled arms with crest are displayed on the pyramid. The monument commemorates Robert and Olive Tothill, senior clerk of the Privy Seal to George II, who died in 1758 and 1731 respectively, and was erected by Sir William Pynsent.

The chancel south wall also carries three further tablets: a framed and corniced panel with an urn over a slate field and arms on a small bracket below, commemorating Daniel and Hamet Compton (died 1817 and 1827); a similar tablet by King of Bath to Richard Compton (died 1825). The chancel north side has a white tablet on slate with arms on a bracket, commemorating John Compton and William (died 1852).

The nave contains seven wall monuments positioned over the arcade piers. On the north side, from east to west: a marble table with urn over a black marble arch to Jacob Giddings (died 1808); a tablet with cornice and draped urns against a slate oval to John Mundy (died 1856); a pilastered tablet with urn on curved gable and apron below to William Keech and family (died 1806); a tablet with fluted pilasters and urn against a grey marble pyramid to Charles Giddings (died 1815); a similar tablet without pilasters (inscription not fully recorded); a shouldered tablet with cornice to Joseph Mundy (died 1817); and a pilastered tablet with urn over grey marble to Jane Jackman, a child (died 1823).

The north transept contains six wall monuments. On the south wall: a limestone tablet on a shaped brecchia background with open cornice, arms below, to William Wroughton of Eastcott (died 1777); a corniced tablet with urn over a grey pyramid to Seymour Wroughton (died 1787). On the north wall: a limestone panel with pediment and gadrooned base with apron to Rev George Jaques (died 1772). Three white marble tablets on slate on the east wall date to 1841, 1837, and 1832, and one early 19th-century white marble tablet with urn to Ann Halliday (died 1819).

The south transept contains four monuments. On the east wall stands a handsome wall monument in red and orange marbles with white marble dressings, featuring a bellied sarcophagus with white marble cornice, a pyramid above hung with garlands and bearing mantled arms, with inscription within a wreath to James Long of Wedhampton (died 1768). On the south wall: a marble tablet with raised gable carrying arms and a garland to Daniel Compton (died 1780). On the west wall: a fine limestone aedicule with fluted columns carrying an entablature and broken pediment enclosing arms, with flames on the corners, supporting scrolls, and a carved apron over a putto, bearing an inscription on a buckler shield to Thomas Ernle of Wedhampton (died 1725), restored and gilded. On the north wall: a tablet with urn to John Compton (died 1801).