Church of St Michael and All Angels and lych gate

Church of St Michael and All Angels and Lych Gate

This former parish church, latterly a chapel of ease, dates from around 1480 with early 16th-century extensions. It was restored in 1896 by E H Harbottle, then substantially rebuilt and restored in 1912 by C E Ponting following a devastating fire. The associated lych gate dates from 1909 and was restored in 1976.

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

The church is built of random Beer stone rubble with ashlar dressings, roofed in slate and lead. The lych gate comprises random rubble with dressed stone dressings and a slate roof.

PLAN AND LAYOUT

The church follows a rectangular plan with a nave, wide aisles, centrally-placed transepts that do not extend beyond the aisles, a chancel, north and south chapels, and a north porch. A west tower projects forward from the main building. The building is oriented north-west to south-east, though cardinal directions are used in this description.

EXTERIOR

The church displays late Perpendicular styling. The two-stage west tower, dating from the late 15th century, features a chamfered plinth, moulded stringcourses with gargoyles at each corner of the upper stringcourse, an embattled parapet, and setback corner buttresses rising halfway up the second stage. The west doorway sits within a pointed-arched surround with mouldings and vine carvings, above which is a four-light tracery window. The second stage has louvred two-light windows with cusped heads on each elevation. A stair turret at the south-east corner rises above the tower roof and is accessed via a plank door set in a pointed-arched surround with hollow jambs. The tower roof is lead, date stamped 1770 and bearing 19th-century graffiti mostly in the form of shoe outlines.

The west ends of both aisles contain three-light windows in pointed-arched surrounds with square-headed two-light windows above set beneath small gables. The south aisle is rendered with stepped buttresses defining five bays and an embattled parapet broken by the wide, central gabled bay of the transept. This bay projects flush with the aisle wall and contains a large four-light window flanked by two three-light windows, all with pointed-arched surrounds. The north aisle follows similar proportions with matching windows, gabled bay, and embattled parapet. To the left of the transept is a round-headed doorway opening onto the north chapel, and a three-sided stair projection that formerly gave access to the roof loft. The stair door, now infilled, is set in a pointed-arched surround with roll mouldings and spandrels. To the right of the transept stands a two-storey porch with corner buttresses and an embattled parapet. The outer arch has moulded jambs, a pointed arch, and a hoodmould with label stops. The doorway features a decorative wrought-iron gate with a square-headed opening above containing a single cusped-head light. Within the porch are stone side benches. To the west of the porch is a four-light window.

Angled corner buttresses support the east end. The east window contains five lights under a pointed arch, while the side chapels have much-reduced four-light windows with pointed heads.

INTERIOR

The north doorway is of early 16th-century date with a hollow-chamfered surround, label stops, and a studded oak door. Above the door on a wooden plinth sits a gilded angel that formerly surmounted a tester over the pulpit (visible in historic photographs). High in the wall to the left is a blocked doorway to the parvis, the room above the porch. The tower contains a tall pointed arch below which, separating the tower base from the nave, runs a four-bay section of an early 20th-century rood screen. This screen was made to replace the medieval screen that originally extended across the chancel and both north and south chapels until destroyed by fire in 1911. The early 20th-century replacement, designed to match the original, was relocated to its current position in the mid-20th century but was subsequently damaged during an arson attack. The tower base contains a small kitchenette and toilets. The west window retains stained glass from 1827 that survived the fire. The tower's upper floors are accessed by a stone spiral staircase from outside the building. The bell frame dates from 1901 and supports six bells.

The early 16th-century arcade features clustered piers with foliate and fruit carved capitals supporting roll-moulded, pointed-headed arches. The two-bay nave has a clerestory with dormer windows displaying octafoil cusping in trefoil surrounds. At the east end of the nave stands a decorative timber pulpit. In the north aisle, to the right of the north door, is a black marble tomb for Thomas Marwood (died 1617), former physician to Elizabeth I, restored in the mid-19th century. The south aisle contains a late 19th-century octagonal pedestal font restored in 1912; its base appears earlier.

The transepts are defined by wide arches in the arcade and do not extend beyond the outer aisle walls. High in the north transept wall is a flattened four-centred arched opening for the former rood loft. The south transept wall contains a piscina with a cusped head. Floors throughout are concrete overlaid with herringbone-patterned wood blocks in the nave, transepts, and aisles. The chancel and adjacent chapels are raised one step above the nave. The two-bay chancel features a plain pointed arch spanned by a timber beam carried on corbels. Oak choir stalls with ornate ends sit on raised fixed platforms either side of the chancel. The western arcade bays have timber parclose screens of 1926 by Herbert Read of Exeter; two capitals carry inscriptions requesting prayers for John and Joan Takell, who restored the chancel and added the aisles. The east window contains stained glass from 1827 and the embellished early 20th-century reredos decorates the chancel. The chancel floor is laid with marble pavement and wood block. Floor gravestones in the north chapel commemorate Joan Takell (died 1529) and John Blagdon (died 1694). The altar and reredos in the south chapel were brought from Allhallows Chapel, Rousden. Both chapels have Portland stone floors. Wall memorials from the 18th and 19th centuries include one to George Blagdon Westcott, Captain of HMS Majestic, who died in 1798 at the Battle of the Nile. The wagon roof dates from the early 20th-century restoration, featuring common rafters with chamfered ribs and carved bosses. At the crossing it is carried by piers and corbels to the west and east respectively, each slightly different.

LYCH GATE

At the north entrance to the churchyard stands the memorial lych gate of 1909, erected to Hugh John Fortescue and restored in 1976. It has stone side walls and a timber frame with curved braces supporting a plain tiled gablet roof. Each gablet features cusped openwork, and the ridge is crowned with the remains of a cross. The timber gates have been removed.