Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

Parish church dating from the 15th and early 16th centuries, restored with a rebuilt chancel in 1867. The building is constructed in local stone and flint rubble with Beerstone and some Hamstone detail; the tower is partly plastered and the roof is slate. The plan comprises a nave with a lower and narrower chancel, a north aisle that does not quite extend the full length of the nave, a north chapel now used as a vestry, a west tower, and a south porch.

The nave is probably 15th-century work. The chancel is a complete rebuild of 1867. The north aisle and west tower may be contemporary and date from the early 16th century. The south porch is 19th-century. Most of the exterior detail has been replaced, making it difficult to trace the full development of the church.

The west tower rises in two stages and has an embattled parapet, carved gargoyle water spouts, diagonal buttresses, and a semi-octagonal stair turret on the south side. The southern belfry window is square-headed with two lights, whilst the other belfry windows have two lights with Perpendicular tracery. On the west side of the tower is a Tudor arch doorway with moulded surround and carved foliage in the spandrels, with a hoodmould carried up from the moulded plinth. Directly above is a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould.

The gable ends of the porch, nave, chancel, and aisle have 19th-century shaped kneelers and coping, most with apex crosses. The south side of the nave comprises three unbuttressed bays with the disused rood stair turret projecting square at the right end. In the centre is the gabled 19th-century porch, which contains a two-centred outer arch with hollow-chamfered surround and hoodmould. The south doorway is 19th-century, a segmental pointed arch with hollow-chamfered surround. On each side of the porch are square-headed three-light windows with Tudor arch-headed lights and sunken spandrels; two similar windows appear on the north side of the aisle, between which is a blocked Tudor arch doorway matching that in the tower. At each end of the aisle are arch-headed windows; the western one is blocked and the eastern one contains 19th-century Decorated reticulated tracery. The chancel is entirely 19th-century and its windows also feature Decorated reticulated tracery.

The interior nave displays a fine 15th-century ceiled wagon roof of six bays with moulded ribs and purlins, carved oak bosses, and a coved wall plate enriched with four-leaf motifs and shields beneath each main truss. The main aisle has a ceiled wagon roof of similar appearance, though here the wall plate is embattled and the bosses have been replaced with square blocks. The chancel roof is 19th-century, comprising scissor-braced common rafter trusses. The tall tower arch and chancel arch both have moulded surrounds.

A four-bay arcade in Beerstone runs across the interior, with one bay overlapping the chancel. The piers are moulded (Pevsner's type B) with carved foliage capitals. Behind the pulpit on the south side of the nave is a tiny two-centred arch doorway to the disused rood stair. The walls are plastered and the floor is laid in parquet blocks.

Furnishings include an 1867 Beerstone reredos comprising a Gothic blind arcade, a contemporary brass altar rail with twisted standards, plain oak stalls with minor Gothic decoration, an oak prayer desk, pulpit, and lectern. Plain 19th-century oak benches are present, along with a 20th-century tower screen.

The restored 15th-century Beerstone font has a delightfully carved bowl featuring various designs, mostly geometrical such as quatrefoil panels, though one panel includes a carved dove. The font has a cylindrical shaft with angle shafts featuring carved capitals.

Memorials are sparse, consisting of one in memory of the dead of the First World War and an ancient coffin stone now set against the south wall. A series of painted boards, one dated 1716, all feature winged cherubs' heads. Over the south door one board records "The Lawyers Gospell" from Matthew 22:37, and commandment boards appear in the north aisle. A benefaction board dated 1826 is also in the north aisle. A 20th-century painted royal arms is displayed. Some 19th-century stained glass is present.