Church of St Michael is a Grade I listed building in the Dartmoor National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 29 March 1960. A Medieval Church.

Church of St Michael

WRENN ID
winding-rood-moss
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Dartmoor National Park
Constituency
South West Devon MP: Rebecca Smith (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
29 March 1960
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St Michael, Cornwood, South Hams
OS grid reference
SX 604 593
Coordinates
50.41751, -3.96593
Source
Historic England listing

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

Description

The Church of St Michael is a parish church that dates back to around 1300, featuring a west tower and the east end of the chancel, with the remainder primarily from the 15th century. The chancel was largely rebuilt in 1867. The church is constructed of granite with granite freestone dressings and has slate roofs. The structure includes a nave, chancel, north and south transepts, and north and south aisles, as well as a west tower and south porch.

The north and south aisles are adorned with three-light Perpendicular windows, and there are buttresses with set-offs between the north windows and a moulded plinth below. The north and south transepts feature four-light Perpendicular windows. The east window of the chancel is a 19th-century three-light design. The south doorway has a moulded four-centred arch. The granite ashlar porch is supported by diagonal buttresses with set-offs and features a moulded three-centred arch doorway with spandrels and a label.

The short west tower has a straight parapet, lancets at the ball-openings, and a three-light west window with reticulated tracery. Each side of the tower has a short buttress at the base, and there is a square stair turret on the north-east corner with lancets. Inside, there are five-bay north and south arcades supported by slender moulded monolithic granite piers with moulded caps and bases, leading to wide moulded four-centred arches. The transepts also have similar arches, and the nave aisles and transepts feature a ceiled wagon roof.

Notable interior features include a 13th-century triple sedilia and piscina with cusped arches, a reredos from 1867, and alabaster reredos around the walls. The altar rail is also made of alabaster. In the south aisle, there is an early 16th-century stone altar with strapwork and shields in panels. Most furnishings are from the late 19th century, except for an early 17th-century parallel and carved octagonal pulpit. The church contains significant wall monuments to local families, including Robert Bellmaine and his wife from 1627, John Savery from 1696, Thomas Vivian from 1793, and Sir John and Dame Mary Rogers from 1759, as well as a late 16th or early 17th-century monument in the south aisle featuring two kneeling figures.

Local climate

Church of St Michael receives an average of 940 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 72% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 10 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 4 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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  2. Chest Tomb to Thomas Vivian North of Chancel of St Michael's Church Grade II 30 m
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  6. East Lodge Grade II 371 m
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  9. Cornwood Church of England School and School Masters House Grade II 495 m
  10. Delamore House Grade II 656 m