Church Of St Michael And All Angels

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is a parish church located on Bussage Hill, Chalford. It was built in 1844 by J.P. Harrison of Oxford, with a south aisle added in 1854 by G.F. Bodley. The church is constructed of coursed, picked rubble limestone, with the south aisle rock-faced; it has a stone slate roof.

The church comprises a nave with a south aisle and porch, a west tower, and a chancel with a north vestry. The south aisle has a lean-to roof with gabled buttresses featuring tracery carving on their front faces. It contains two-light, square-headed windows with trefoil tracery. The porch, flush with the aisle wall, has a moulded, pointed arched doorway with a carved quatrefoil panel above. A powerful contrast exists between this aisle and the main body of the church. The north side of the nave features three two-light, pointed windows with decorative tracery and a pointed arched north doorway. The west tower is relatively plain, with a tall two-light window and large diagonal, offset buttresses. A projecting stair turret rises from the south side, topped with a coped detail. The tower also has two-light, Decorated belfry openings, plain string courses, and a simple parapet with a conical roof. The chancel windows are slightly more elaborate than the nave windows, with the three-light east window being the most ornate.

Inside, the nave is tall, with a fine three-bay south arcade supported by octagonal piers featuring delicate floral carving above moulded capitals. The hood mould terminates with finely carved leaf terminals, and corbel shafts are present. Tall, pointed tower and chancel arches are also featured, the latter incorporating a five-bay timber rood screen. The nave roof is constructed with arched braced collar trusses on carved wooden angle corbels, and decorative cusped windbracing. The chancel floor is stepped and tiled with encaustic tiles, and the roof is wagon-shaped. A three-bay reredos, designed by Bodley and featuring attached shafts, is situated at the east end. A timber sedile is set within the south chancel window. Other features include 19th-century choir stalls and an altar rail, a square-headed north aumbry with a decorative iron grille, an octagonal stone pulpit, and a font. Stained glass is present, including an east window from 1846 by O'Connor, and one north nave window by Walter Tower.

The church was built for Thomas Keble, reflecting principles of the Oxford Movement; Harrison was described as a gentleman and scholar rather than a prominent architect. The south aisle, Bodley’s first architectural work, is considered more successful than Harrison’s original design. It was added to serve the inmates of the nearby Bussage House of Mercy.