Church of St Michael is a Grade II listed building in the North Devon local planning authority area, England. Church.

Church of St Michael

WRENN ID
empty-keep-moon
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
North Devon
Constituency
North Devon MP: Ian Roome (LD)
Country
England
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Michael, Rackenford
OS grid reference
SS 818 193
Coordinates
50.96146, -3.6843
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Michael is a former parish church that was rebuilt in 1857, although it retains a late 11th century or early 12th century font. The building is constructed of unrendered snecked stone rubble and features slate roofs with coped parapets, moulded stone kneelers, and apex crosses. The vestry has a polygonal gable end stack. The church has a simple plan consisting of a nave and chancel, with a south porch and a north vestry.

On the exterior, there is a gabled bell turret at the east end of the nave, and a steeply pointed moulded stone arch serves as the doorway to the south porch. To the right of the porch, there are three pointed arched windows with two lights each, a cusped headed priest's doorway, and a single light window towards the east end. The east and west ends of the church feature three-light windows, and the principal windows are adorned with human head corbels beneath the hoodmoulds.

Inside, the notable feature is the late 11th century or early 12th century font, which has a tall circular lead-lined bowl on a short stem. The interior also includes intact 19th century fittings such as pulpit benches, communion rails, an altar table, tiled floors, and commandment boards at the west end. Access to the pulpit is from the vestry only. The chancel arch is steeply pointed and has moulded capitals on the engaged shafts. Both the chancel and nave have arch- and wind-braced roofs with five bays, and the walls are plastered.

Local climate

Church of St Michael receives an average of 960 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 74% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 78% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 71% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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