Church Of St Michael And All Angels

SS 9422-9522 BAMPTON STATION ROAD, Bampton

14/64 Church of St Michael and All Angels - 5.4.66 GV I

Parish church. Tower probably C13, parts of chancel, nave and aisle C14, C15 remodelling including arcade ; series of restorations 1872-98 adopted in favour of plans to replace the church which was very dilapidated in 1870. Local stone rubble with slate roofs and Bath, Beer and volcanic stone dressings ; Beerstone arcade. West tower, nave, chancel, 5-bay north aisle, north-east vestry, south porch. Plain Early English tower ; some Decorated tracery in nave aisle and chancel, otherwise Perpendicular. Impressive plain battlemented west tower with a north-east projecting stair turret, angle buttresses, a double-chamfered west doorway and 3-light C14 west window with intersecting tracery. The chancel and nave fenestration is mostly renewed ; 2- centred south priest's doorway ; 3-sided rood stair turret with scratch dial ; large porch with plain 2-centred outer doorway, chamfered 2-centred inner doorway and C15 arch braced roof. Interior: Unplastered walls ; C15 moulded chancel arch with panelled soffit ; plain 2-centred tower arch ; 5-bay C15 arcade with carved capitals ; C15 wagon roofs to nave and aisle with moulded ribs and carved bosses, plaster infill removed ; chancel wagon roof boarded with an extra rib over the sanctuary, 2-light window above chancel arch lights rood screen. Fittings: The chancel has an C18 pedimented timber reredos in the Roman style which originally incorporated an oil painting ; ogee-headed cusped C14 piscina ; C19 altar rails and pretty tiling ; The remains of an exceptional probably late C15 cataclews tomb chest are fixed to the north wall. 7-bay Perpendicular chancel screen, Pevsner type A, restored Herbert Read in 1938. The nave has plain late C19 benches ; a Jacobean timber drum pulpit, panelled and carved and an 1818 timber eagle lectern. C15 octagonal font on stem, probably partly recut. Late C19 tower screen with C20 glazing above. The tower has several late C17 memorials used as floor slabs. Memorials and Stained Glass Wall tablet in the chancel to John Tristram, died 1732, with a cartouche surround. C19 wall plaques in nave include one signed W. Emes, Exeter to Elizabeth Penton, died 1829. Window in nave filled with fragments of late C15 stained glass, restored by Maurice Drake in 1921. 2-light window above chancel arch by Drake & Sons of Exeter, 1919. A memorial plaque fixed to the external wall of the tower in memory of the clerk's son has the unusual inscription : Bless my eyes..../Here he lies/In a sad Pickle/Killed by Icicle/In the year 1776.

Devon Nineteenth Century Churches Project.

Listing NGR: SS9566322241