Church of St Michael

Church of St Michael, Alphington

Church of St Michael is a late 15th-century parish church with later alterations and renovations. It stands on the south west side of Dawlish Road and is constructed of roughly coursed local red sandstone with white limestone ashlar details and a grey slate roof.

The church is late Perpendicular in style. Its plan comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a two-storey north porch, and a west tower. The chancel projects eastward and is flanked by side chapels. A Victorian vestry extension projects to the south east.

The main windows have large pointed arch openings with three lights and Perpendicular tracery. Single windows are trefoil-headed lancets, occasionally set in square openings with plain spandrels. The north facade is dominated by the two-storey porch towards the west, a tall, narrow gabled structure with an open arched doorway. Above the door are the arms of the Courtenay family and a decorated Perpendicular niche bearing a sculpture of St Michael, flanked by two single windows. A floriate cross crowns the gable apex, and a small external stairwell lit by a single lancet is positioned to the right. Three large windows stand to the left of the porch and one large window to the right. A stepped buttress marks the eastern end of the medieval church. East of the buttress is a blank wall with moulded plinth marking the 1880s extension.

The gabled east end projects beyond flanking gabled side chapels (Lady Chapel to the north and Wheatly Chapel to the south), and is lit by a large window in the east wall and a small single window in each side wall. The side chapels are similarly gabled with slightly smaller arched windows in their east walls, each crowned by a floriate cross. The two-storey 19th-century vestry projects to the south east and is lit by single and paired trefoil-headed lancets set in square windows with plain spandrels. The vestry has a tall hexagonal crenellated stone chimney stack to the north and a plain side stack on the south gable. An external stairwell stands to the south, and a small projecting porch with a narrow pointed arch doorway and 19th-century plank door with decorative ironwork strap hinges is positioned to the north.

The south front has four large arched windows. The west front is dominated by a tall, well-built tower with diagonal buttresses with offsets, a moulded plinth, and string courses at the base and above and below the belfry. The belfry features large arched, two-light louvered openings with Perpendicular tracery. Below the belfry on the north face is a clock, lit by a single lancet to the clock chamber. The tower top is crenellated with crocketted pinnacles at the angles, each with a gargoyle at the base. An external stairwell with a crenellated turret stands on the north east side. The west front of the tower has a simple arched doorway with a 19th-century timber plank door with decorative iron strap hinges, and a large four-light arched west window above.

Inside the porch is a good timber ceiling and a stone holy water stoup. The nave has four bays with north and south aisles. The arcade is formed by composite fluted pillars with elaborately carved capitals depicting angels bearing shields, topped by pointed arches. A notable wagon-vaulted timber ceiling with carved gilded bosses was restored in the 1980s following fire damage.

Just inside the north door stands an 11th-century font of carved Beer stone, with interlace carving depicting St Michael slaying a dragon, a hunter with a bow and arrow, a man returning from hunting with an axe, and several mythical beasts. The nave is paved with memorial stones of various dates. The rood screen is of oak in Perpendicular style with 32 painted panels depicting saints and bishops. It was restored in 1879 by the Earl of Devon, when the paintings were discovered. The screen in the north aisle is different and possibly derives from an earlier church. The chancel is paved with 19th-century tiles and includes a medieval piscina.

The elaborate oak reredos was erected in 1900, and wall paintings on the east wall were restored in the 1980s. The Lady Chapel was restored by Herbert Read in 1930 from 17th-century panelling. The Wheatly Chapel was refitted in the 1980s and includes a new organ loft. A well-carved 19th-century stone pulpit stands in the church. The highly decorative window glass is largely 18th century or later, including windows by Beer and Driffield. The tower screen at the west end was constructed from 17th-century panels salvaged from a large upper gallery when it was removed in 1875. The tower clock dates to 1882, and there is a peal of eight bells.

The shaft of a medieval stone cross, reused as a gate post, lies against the west front; part of the base is reset on the south side of the churchyard. A 19th-century gabled timber and slate lych gate stands to the west.

The present building is believed to date from around 1480 and is built on the site of an earlier church with possible pre-Conquest origins. The early Norman font is the earliest surviving feature and is a notable example, with a dragon being attacked by an archer within the scrollwork. This design was copied for the font in the Temple Church, London, built in 1842.

The Courtenays of Powderham became patrons of the church in 1403, and their arms are incorporated into the north porch to mark their contribution towards the church's rebuilding. A large upper gallery was erected at the west end in 1632 and removed in 1875–76 as part of a major restoration by the firm Hayward & Son. During this restoration the chancel was lengthened and a vestry added. John Hayward (1808–1891) and Pearson Barry Hayward (1838–1888) were an Exeter-based architectural practice that carried out various restorations to Devon churches. Further enrichment took place in the 1880s and after. A fire in 1986 caused severe damage to the south east of the church, necessitating a major programme of restoration including reconstruction of the vestry, a new organ and loft, and restoration of the roof and furnishings.