Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

This is a parish church of late 13th or early 14th century date, enlarged and partly rebuilt in the 15th or early 16th century. The chancel and transepts appear to belong to the first period, while the south transept, set at a marked angle to the rest of the church, may be even earlier. The body of the church was restored in 1856 and 1884, with the tower restored in 1908.

The church is built of stone covered mostly with roughcast. The exposed south porch and west ends of the aisles are of granite and slatestone rubble, while the tower is of coursed granite rubble. The roofs are slated. The plan comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north and south transepts, north and south chancel chapels, a south porch, and a west tower.

The south aisle and chancel chapel have similar Perpendicular granite windows with 2-centred arches, with only the mullions appearing to be restorations. The north aisle and chancel chapel have a matching set of quite different Perpendicular granite windows with 4-centred arches, where the centre light in each window is slightly taller than the other two. The aisles and chancel chapels on both sides have battlemented parapets. The south side has clasping buttresses, while the north side has buttresses between the aisle windows and an angle buttress on the chancel chapel. At the north-west corner of the north aisle is a 5-sided stair turret with a single slit window.

The south transept has a single-light lancet window of limestone in its west wall. In the south wall is a large Perpendicular granite window with a round arch, and in the east wall a similar window with a pointed arch, though the tracery and mullions are restored in limestone. The north transept has Decorated limestone windows, apparently all 19th century restorations. In the west wall, partly blocked by the north aisle, is the outline of a former doorway with a pointed arch.

The chancel has Decorated limestone windows, largely if not wholly restored. The east window has 3 lights, while the north and south windows have 2 lights each. At the west end of the south wall of the chancel, extending into a recess cut into the transept wall, is a 2-light granite window of the late 16th or 17th century. It is flat-headed with hollow-moulded mullions. Beneath it, splayed across the angle between chancel and transept, is a plain granite doorway with an elliptical arch.

The south porch is 2-storeyed with clasping buttresses and a battlemented parapet. In the front is a large heavily-moulded doorway with a straight hood-mould. The inner arch has a 4-centred head with quatrefoils in the spandrels. Above it in the second storey is a pair of segmental-headed recesses with carved spandrels. Each has a straight hood-mould with square terminals, those on the left-hand recess bearing letters believed to be SA for St Anne. Above these, centrally placed, is a similar recess with richly carved hood-mould containing a 20th century statue of the Virgin and Child brought from Bruges. Beneath the group of recesses is a copper or bronze sundial. The only window in the upper storey is in the west wall, of 1 light and segmental-arched like the recesses. Fixed to the south-west angle of the porch is a carved slate headstone of the late 18th century with a winged cherub-head at the top.

The interior of the porch has stone benches at either side. The moulded upper-floor beams, wholly restored, intersect. Within the panels are the original moulded joists with bar-stops. The doorway into the church is of granite with a 2-centred arch, having a three-quarter-round moulding flanked by 2 hollows with asymmetrical pyramid-stops at the foot. On the floor in front of the doorway is a granite tomb-slab of 1672 with 4 lines of verse carved in the centre.

The 3-stage tower has a battlemented parapet and a 5-sided stair turret with slit windows on the south face. In the west face is a chamfered granite doorway with a 2-centred arch. Above it, still in the lowest stage, is a Perpendicular window of 3 lights with old granite jambs, but the mullions and tracery are of limestone and probably a restoration. The ringing chamber has a single-light window with a pointed arch in the east face. The bellchamber has a 2-light opening in each face except for that on the south, which has a single-light opening at each side of the stair-turret. The lights have pointed arches.

Interior

The nave has an arcade of 5 granite arches at either side. The fourth arch from the west forms a bridge over the transept crossing, while the fifth arch extends into the chancel, opening into the chancel chapel. The almost rounded arches are carried on piers with heavily moulded capitals and 4 attached shafts having hollow mouldings between them. The tower arch is plain with chamfered imposts.

The tower staircase has upper and lower stone doorways with chamfered 2-centred arches having diagonal-cut stops. In the south wall of the south transept is a piscina with a chamfered 2-centred arch. In the south wall of the south chancel chapel is a stone staircase to the former rood loft. The lower doorway (the only one visible) is round-arched with rebates for a door opening outwards. A small stone staircase to the room over the porch has a plain doorway set well above floor level with a 4-centred arch. The room itself is featureless with a 19th or 20th century roof.

The nave, transepts and chancel have wagon roofs. Those of the nave and transepts appear to be 15th or early 16th century, with the nave roof having fine carved bosses. Over the crossing is a particularly fine ribbed wooden vault of the same date, with ribs springing from shaped granite corbels. At the base of each rib is a niche with cinquefoiled head containing a carved figure. Halfway up is an angel with wings unfurled, and at the apex is a large carved boss. Until the 19th century the ribs are said to have been painted blue and the bosses red.

The north aisle and chancel chapel have flat roofs with moulded intersecting beams. The corresponding roofs on the south are simpler 19th century imitations. A fragment of tooth-moulding is re-used in the north chancel chapel.

Fittings and Monuments

A medieval octagonal font of granite has a plain plinth, shaft and bowl. A traceried oak rood screen spans the nave and aisles, considerably restored with barely a trace of colour remaining. Traceried parclose screens are better preserved but also without colour. In front of the rood screen is a clergy stall made up of carved medieval bench-ends with poppy-head finials. In the chancel are 2 seats made up from simpler bench-ends. On the chancel floor is a mosaic of fragments of medieval glazed tiles. The east window of the north chancel chapel has fragments of medieval coloured glass. The south window of the south transept has a stained glass window of 1888 described by Pevsner as "in a Crane-Arts-and-Crafts style".

In the north transept, in a recess with a 19th century Gothic canopy, is a mutilated limestone effigy of a recumbent woman, believed to be 14th century. Several good carved granite and slate tomb-slabs of the 17th century are present. One good 16th century tomb-slab, probably of limestone, is in the chancel. At the south end of the nave is a carved paving-stone, possibly part of a medieval tomb-slab.

Bells

The 4th, 5th and tenor bells were cast by Thomas Bilbie in 1797. The bell-frame is cast-iron.