Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is an Anglican parish church, dating primarily from the 15th century and significantly restored in 1874. It is constructed of random rubble local stone with slate roofs, featuring decorative ridge tiles. The south aisle and porch are under a roof slightly higher than the nave. The church comprises a chancel and nave undivided, a two-bay south aisle, a porch with a chamber above accessible by an external stone stair, and a bell-cote at the west end. The west gable features two full-height stepped buttresses carrying a relieving arch and a gabled bell-cote holding two bells. A 2-light west window is present, along with an escutcheon below the relieving arch displaying the date and initials I.C.M.S. The south wall of the nave is unlit, with a lateral stone stair of 11 steps leading to a round-headed doorway accessing a room above the porch, fitted with a plank door. A pointed arch-head, double roll moulded opening leads to the porch, featuring a C19 rafter roof and a depressed Tudor arch head doorway with a C19 door. Above the porch is a trefoil-headed lancet window, and there are two 2-light cinquefoil-headed windows with hoodmoulds. A 3-light, uncusped window is set into the east gable end. A pointed arch lancet window is located in the north wall of the chancel. The west side has two 2-light windows with hollow-chamfered granite mullions under square hoodmoulds, with a stepped buttress between. The interior of the porch is rendered with flat plasterboard and a featureless roof. The main church interior is also rendered. A two-bay arcade, constructed of granite with depressed Tudor arch heads and octagonal capitals decorated with panels of birds and Christian symbols, separates the nave from the aisle. A trefoil-headed hagioscope in the northwest corner of the aisle provides a view into the nave. The chancel features a partly renewed ribbed and ceiled barrel vault roof with bosses and a wallplate. The aisle has an original ceiled ribbed barrel vault with a wallplate and bosses. An octagonal pulpit with carved panels commemorates William Newcombe of Bankford, who died in 1854. There is a Norman front with a cable-moulded base on a C19 plinth. A C19 decorative wooden reredos, inset with slate tablets, an altar table, and floor tiles are all from the same period. C19 pews are also present. C19 stained glass adorns the east window. A carpet on the floor may be concealing tomb slabs. C19 pews fill the church. There is currently no electric lighting. According to local tradition, a lost inscription once attributed the church's construction to Sir William Hankford, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, during the years 1414-22. The initials on the bell-cote are those of J.C.Moore-Stevens, who funded the majority of the 1874 restoration work.