Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church predominantly rebuilt in 1870-71, though its late 11th-century tower survives as a relic of a priory that belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of Mont St Michel in Normandy. The rebuilding was undertaken at the expense of Louisa, Lady Rolle, with Benjamin Ferrey as architect, Henry Burridge as builder, and carvings by Harry Hems of Exeter. The church contains a 15th-century font.

The tower is constructed of roughly coursed blocks of pale brown local conglomerate sandstone, while the remainder is built of coursed blocks of rock-faced Torquay limestone with yellow sandstone detail (the tower also incorporating contemporary detail from the restoration). The interior is lined with Beerstone ashlar, and the roof is covered with red tiles including fishscale bands.

The plan is entirely that of the 1870-71 rebuild. Originally the tower was central, by the 19th century it stood at the east end, and now it projects from the south side of the chancel. The church comprises a nave and lower chancel with large north and south aisles, north and south porches, a crypt, and a vestry occupying the ground floor of the tower.

The restoration style is Decorated Gothic, and the tower was converted to match this style, though a few Transitional and Early English Gothic details appear in places. All sections are gable-ended with soffit-moulded coping and apex crosses: an Iona cross on the chancel and fleuree crosses elsewhere. All windows have pointed heads containing Decorated Gothic tracery and hoodmoulds with carvings of medieval heads as labels, including monks, a jester, and kings.

The two-stage tower has a very low pyramidal spire surmounted by a brass weathercock and enclosed by a parapet carved with blind quatrefoil panels. A gargoyle waterspout projects from each corner. Two-light belfry windows pierce the upper stage. On the lower part of the southern side, the dripcourse of an original roof survives over a contemporary round-headed arch with Beerstone voussoirs. The arch is now blocked by a shallow projection of the vestry, which contains a three-light window in its gable end. A 19th-century stair turret projects from the east side, rising to belfry level with a stone roof pitched with a rounded hip, a prominent finial, and corbelled eaves cornice. The upper stage corners have broad chamfers while the lower stage is square. It has slit windows and an external door, the latter square-headed with small columns with waterleaf capitals inset into the jambs and a band of natural leaf enrichment along the head.

Both aisles are the same size. The east end of the south aisle contains only a trefoil-headed lancet because the tower covers most of it, but the other ends contain four-light windows with ventilator slits in the gable. Each side wall comprises four bays containing a porch and three three-light windows. Buttresses with weathered offsets and steeply gabled heads are positioned between them, along with setback buttresses. The south porch lies right of centre while the north porch is by the west end. Both are identical, being gable-ended with wrought iron apex crosses. The two-centred outer arches have richly chamfered heads but broad chamfers to the jambs. Double-lancet windows pierce the side walls.

On the east end, the nave projects very slightly from the aisles and contains a five-light window, a ventilator in the gable, and an inscribed foundation stone near the ground. The chancel continues the same style with two-light windows on the sides and a three-light east window. Here, however, the side walls have a coved eaves cornice carved with acanthus leaves, and the east window is flanked by half-engaged columns with stiff leaf capitals. Ground level on the north side of the church is lower than on the south. Because of this, the north porch and the priest's door to the chancel are reached by flights of stone steps.

The interior is basically that of the 1870-71 restoration. Both porches have open common rafter roofs and chequer-pattern floors of red and black tiles. The north and south doorways are each two-centred arches with moulded surrounds containing plank doors with Decorated-style strap hinges. The interior is completely lined with Beerstone ashlar. All roofs are pine and backed with pine boards.

The nave has an open four-bay roof of hammerbeam trusses, each with moulded arch braces, an octagonal kingpost with moulded cap, raking queen struts, and spaces above the collar filled with open cusping. The hammerbeams terminate with plain shields, and the arch braces supporting them rest on shaped corbels. The wall plate is a board with crenellated head pierced by small quatrefoils over a dogtooth frieze. The end trusses are scissor-braced with cusped infill.

Each aisle has an open four-bay roof of arch-braced trusses with foliage carved in the spandrels. The arch braces rest on large Beerstone corbels carved as human heads under soffit-moulded caps. The purlins are moulded, and the wall plate is a simpler version of that in the nave.

The chancel has a five-bay boarded wagon roof with moulded ribs and carved (possibly oak) bosses. The two bays over the sanctuary are more elaborate, having cusped frames around the panels. The truss between sanctuary and chancel is broader than the others and has a descending crest of open cusps. This truss also springs from vaulting shafts comprising marble shafts resting on large corbels carved as angels.

The chancel arch is a large two-centred arch with a very richly moulded head and broad chamfered sides. The inner mouldings spring from vaulting shafts with marble shafts, Beerstone stiff leaf capitals, moulded bases on pedestals enriched with balls of coloured marble, and supported on large corbels carved as angels (one holding flowers, the other playing a lute).

Each side of the nave has a four-bay arcade with moulded Beerstone arches and hoodmoulds springing from corbels carved as various foliages. The piers are marble and circular in section with Beerstone caps carved with stiff leaf decoration and occasionally with human heads.

The tower arch is on the south side of the chancel. It is a relatively low two-centred arch with a double-chamfered arch ring, the inner ring springing from plain imposts and the outer carried down the jambs. Directly above, the voussoirs of a probably 11th-century round-headed arch are exposed.

The chancel also has an internal coving frieze with acanthus leaf enrichment. The inner arches of the chancel windows have marble nook shafts with Beerstone stiff leaf capitals and hoodmoulds over springing from the abaci. The nave and aisle floors are a chequer pattern of red and black tiles. The chancel floor contains patterns of encaustic tiles, more densely employed in the sanctuary, which is raised by marble steps.

Nearly all the furniture and fittings are from the 1870-71 rebuild and executed in a consistent Transitional-Early English Gothic style. An ornate Beerstone reredos forms the centrepiece, breaking forward from a blind arcade of trefoil-headed arches supported on slender marble shafts with Beerstone stiff leaf capitals, sunken cusped panels in the spandrels, and a moulded cornice enriched with a band of trefoils recessed to coloured marble over a ballflower frieze. The panels are painted, some with geometric patterns, others with prayers and commandments. The centrepiece has a central blind trefoil-headed arch with crockets and a large poppyhead at the apex rising through the frieze. It too rests on small marble shafts with stiff leaf capitals and frames a sunken quatrefoil containing the sacred monogram in mosaic. Either side are symbols of the Evangelists in bas-relief in square sunken panels. Each corner of the sanctuary contains a Riddel post—a tall turned timber post surmounted by a gilded angel—placed there in 1921.

An oak altar rail stands on a trefoil-headed arcade. Oak stalls have frontals containing open early Decorated Gothic-style tracery, and benches have large poppyhead finials. Brass candle holders here are now converted to electric lights. The chancel also contains a wrought iron and brass corona lucis, also now converted to electric light.

An ornate Beerstone pulpit with marble enrichment has a square drum with chamfered corners and a blind arcade on each side: two arches on the larger sides with a rosette in the tympanum and sunken quatrefoils in the spandrels, while the chamfered corners contain narrow trefoil-headed panels. Slender marble shafts with stiff leaf capitals stand on each corner and on the broader sides. A carved stiff leaf cornice and natural leaf decoration adorn the base. The pulpit is supported on a large central pier and corner piers, all with stiff leaf capitals, and has stone steps with a brass handrail with twisted balusters. A brass lectern has a twisted stem and scrolled enrichment. Plain deal benches retain their original numbers on the bench ends.

The 15th-century Beerstone font has an octagonal bowl, its sides containing quatrefoil panels alternately with four-leaf motifs and shields, carved foliage around the base, a stem with trefoil-headed panels, and a moulded base. The flat oak cover is probably 17th century.

Among the memorials, the oldest and best is the Duke altar tomb now set in the tower. It is built of Beerstone, dated 1589 but has no inscription. Below the lid is a frieze of interlace with acanthus leaves supported by three flat pilasters. The panels between are decorated with strapwork patterns. Three Ionic columns stand on the lid carrying an entablature with modillion cornice. Behind the columns are two panels with strapwork patterns around oval bosses. On top of the entablature is an uninscribed plaque flanked by flat pilasters and with a plain entablature. The shaped wings either side are also decorated with strapwork. Above is the date plaque, surmounted by the Duke arms.

The tower also contains rectangular black marble mural plaques: one in memory of Richard Crossing (died 1689) with his arms, another in memory of William Simmons (died 1782), and a third in memory of Henry Austin (died 1700). A 16th-century Beerstone graveslab is fixed to the wall in the south aisle; its black letter inscription records the death of Mr John Courtenay in 1593. The chancel contains a marble plaque erected in 1905 in memory of two members of the Venn family who were rectors in the 17th century. Other small late 19th-century and early 20th-century marble or brass plaques are present. A painted board in the south aisle dated 1745 records charity bequests.

Below the west window, a brass plaque records the restoration of the church at the expense of Lady Rolle. Alongside to the left, several brass plates are fixed to the wall. They appear to be coffin plates salvaged from the demolition of the Duke vault in 1870. The oldest and most ornate are two dated 1641, one in memory of Richard Duke, the other in memory of Sarah Duke. In 1870 they were mounted in the tower around the altar tomb but have since been moved to their present location.

In the south aisle, an oak chest is inscribed "IM and WB, 1762". A display box on top contains one of the 15th-century oak bosses removed in 1870 and a couple of old prints showing the church before it was rebuilt. Both east and west windows contain stained glass; the former, by Warden Hughes, was given by the Honourable Mark Rolle.

The Church of St Michael is mostly the result of Ferrey's rebuild of 1870-71. Even the tower, the only survival from the earlier church, was massively restored and shows only little evidence of its 11th-century origins. The 15th-century font was retained. Ferrey provided a light and spacious church that still contains furniture and fittings of that date. The craftsmanship is good, though the architecture rises only to the dignified. The best feature in the church is the Duke altar tomb of 1589.