Church Of St Michael The Archangel

The Church of St Michael the Archangel is an Anglican parish church located in Brixton Deverill. The core of the building dates to the 13th century, with a 15th-century tower, and significant restoration work carried out in 1730 and 1862. It is constructed of dressed limestone, with a tiled chancel roof and stone slates to the nave.

The church’s layout includes a nave, chancel, a north-east vestry, and a west tower over the entrance. The restored west door features a pointed arch with attached shafts and a square hoodmould with quatrefoils to the spandrels. The tower, in a 14th-century style, has an ogee-headed window to the second stage. The offset bellstage is characterized by a two-light Perpendicular window with louvres to the west side, a single pointed window with louvres to the other side, and a cornice to a plain parapet with gableted spirelets to the corners. An inscription records a former spire and renovation in 1852, alongside diagonal buttresses. The south side of the nave has two 19th-century Decorated style windows with hoodmoulds and unfinished terminals, a central buttress, and an 18th-century coved cornice. The south side of the chancel contains two recessed chamfered lancets, a 19th-century priest’s doorway with a planked door, and an east-end geometric-style window. The north side features an attached lean-to vestry with a lancet window, and two 2-light windows with reticulated tracery to the nave.

Inside, a plain double-chamfered pointed tower arch, likely from the 18th century, exists. The floors are of stone throughout. The nave has an 18th-century ceiling with a deeply coved plaster cornice featuring guilloche ornament. A good 13th-century chancel arch is present with triple shafts, the main one with keel moulding, moulded capitals, a well-moulded arch with dogtooth ornament, and square chamfered responds. The two-bay chancel features a 19th-century braced collar roof on stone corbels and high sills to the restored windows. A chamfered pointed doorway leads to the vestry. The church contains fielded panel pews, likely from the 18th century. A fine Romanesque stone font with chevron decoration is situated at the entrance and was historically located in Imber’s Church of St. Giles. C17 carved panels are set on the north wall of the chancel, possibly originating from a poorbox. Monuments include a Gothic tablet dedicated to Rev. William Barnes, who died in 1858; a classical marble to Edward and Mary Frowd, who died in 1776 and 1803 (signed by J. Chapman of Frome); and two marbles in the porch signed by T. King of Bath, dedicated to Harriet Woodroffe, who died in 1806, and Rev. Arthur Coham, who died in 1799. The church also incorporates unsigned stained glass from the 1860s, produced by the same company throughout.