Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael, Tirley

An Anglican parish church of 13th and 14th-century date, with Perpendicular features, restored in 1894. The building is constructed of blue lias with sandstone quoins; the tower is rendered and the roof is of red tile. The plan comprises a nave with projecting south porch, a chancel, and a west tower.

The chancel's south wall displays two 2-light Perpendicular windows with ogee cusped trefoil-headed lights in rectangular surrounds (partly restored), flanking a small 19th-century studded plank door within a flat-chamfered stilted-headed surround. A three-light 19th-century pointed east window contains Decorated style tracery with a hood carved with head stops. An eroded blue lias monument dated 1697 is set in the lower left of this wall. The north wall of the chancel has a window matching that on the south wall. Stone steps visible behind a pointed window on the north side of the chancel arch indicate the former position of a rood loft. A trefoil-headed piscina is set low in the chancel's south wall.

The nave's north wall contains a 3-light Perpendicular window with carved spandrels and rectangular surround on the left; two 19th-century pointed windows with quatrefoils and stopped hoods in the centre, where interrupted coursing shows the position of a former north door; and a 3-light window with trefoil-headed lights in rectangular surround on the right. The south wall of the nave has a 2-light Perpendicular window with ogee cusped trefoil-headed lights left of the porch, a 2-light pointed window with Decorated tracery, vesica and scroll-moulded hood right of the porch, and a 3-light Perpendicular window with carved spandrels in rectangular surround further right.

The timber-framed gabled porch, restored in the 19th century, has side walls open above waist height. The left-hand wall retains a former Tudor-arched doorhead with foliate spandrels. The plank door has strap hinges and is set within a flat-chamfered segmental-headed surround (possibly remodelled).

The west tower is three stages with diagonal buttresses and a string between the second and third stages. The lower stage dates probably to the 13th century and contains a pointed west window with reticulated 14th-century tracery. Slit lights light the first floor, while single belfry windows (formerly with tracery) have large stone slate louvres. The tower is topped by a battlemented parapet with crocketed pinnacles at each corner (restored). A square partially legible monument dated 1729 is set in the south wall, with a painted wooden clock face above it.

The plastered interior contains a 13th-century double-chamfered pointed arch from the nave to the tower, now blocked with a 19th-century part-glazed screen. A similar chancel arch bears a painted Royal Coat of Arms in deteriorated condition. Medieval wagon roofs span the nave and chancel, with decorative cusping and a pendant at the apex at the east end of the nave roof. Two tie beams cross the nave with moulded soffits. The nave has a coloured 19th-century tile floor, while the chancel floor is mainly composed of 17th and 18th-century stone ledgers, with a coloured tile floor to the sanctuary.

Fittings include a 12th-century tub font inside the south door, an early wooden monuments chest with three locks and legs opposite the south door, and 19th-century wooden pulpit and lectern. The pews and choir stalls are 19th-century. Choir stalls against the north and south walls of the chancel are made of reused 17th-century panelling incorporating friezes with lunette decoration. A 17th-century communion rail with turned balusters and a 17th-century altar table with turned legs are present. Two chairs flanking the altar have backs made from 15th-century bench ends with blind tracery and finials; each shows a face with a protruding tongue.

The chancel floor contains numerous 17th and 18th-century ledgers including monuments to Thomas Halsey of Corse Court (died 1727) and his wife Alice (died 1717); Henry Browne of Tirley Court (died 1659); Richard, son of John Browne of Cumberwood (died 1678); John Browne of Tirley Court (died 1656); and John Browne of Cumberwood (died 1681).

The south wall of the chancel displays a fine Baroque monument to Mary Browne (died 1717), third daughter of John Browne senior of Cumberwood. It comprises an oval white marble inscription panel within a heavily draped stone surround, topped with a heraldic shield and flanked below by two winged cherubs' faces, with foliate decoration and a skull with laurel leaf wreath at the bottom.

The north wall of the chancel contains a Renaissance style monument to William Hurdman (died 1684), with an oval slate stone inscription panel within a wreathed surround, Purbeck marble barley twist columns with Corinthian capitals, a broken segmental pediment incorporating cherubs' heads, and a heraldic shield flanked by two cherubs. A classical style monument to Anne Turton (died 1642), wife of William Turton of West Bromwich, stands to the left, featuring a painted black inscription plaque with gold lettering within a limestone surround with decorative scrollwork and small rosettes highlighted in gold, and a broken segmental pediment with heraldic shield at centre.

The nave's north wall contains a grey marble monument to Robert Brown Gittos (died 1724) and William Gittos (died 1726), and a grey marble monument right of the chancel arch to Thomas Hopkins of Wigwood Farm (died 1789) and other Hopkins family members, with a heraldic shield at top. Four 18th and early 19th-century slate stone benefaction tablets with incised inscriptions are positioned either side of and above the south door; one features a foliate border.