Church of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church largely dating to the 14th century, with significant restoration work in 1891 by Naylor and Sale of Derby. It is constructed of rubble limestone with gritstone dressings and quoins, featuring lead roofs with coped gables and parapets, and a stone slate roof to the porch. The church comprises a west steeple, a clerestoried nave with aisles, a north vestry and a south porch, and a chancel with a north vestry. The building's group value stems from its historical and architectural significance.

The west tower and its broach spire are of early 14th-century gritstone construction. The tower features angle buttresses and a narrow ogee-headed light on the west side. Bell openings have paired ogee lights under a flat head, located on the north, west, and south sides. The spire has two tiers of lucarnes.

The south elevation includes a gabled porch with diagonal buttresses, incorporating both moulded inner and outer doorways. A chamfered string course links the window sills. Buttresses provide set-offs. Aisle windows are two-light, deeply set with square heads and mid-14th-century tracery, while the chancel has similar two-light windows, and the east window is a three-light design with Decorated tracery. A low priest's doorway leads into the chancel, and three two-light clerestory windows have cusped ogee lights under a square head.

The north elevation mirrors the south in its arrangement, with two windows to the aisle and one to the chancel, and three clerestory windows, all similar in style. The north aisle’s east window has three lights with Decorated tracery, and the east window features five lights with Decorated tracery.

Inside, the church has tall four-bay arcades with octagonal piers, moulded octagonal abaci, and double-chamfered arches. The east responds have head corbels, and the chancel arch is double-chamfered with head corbels. A modest, double-chamfered tower arch is also present, with an earlier roof line visible above. The chancel includes a piscina and triple sedilia with ogee arches. A Jacobean pulpit was restored in 1942. A built-in 14th-century stone bible support or lectern is located on the north side of the chancel. A brass memorial is found in the south aisle, commemorating Richard Blackwall (died 1505), and a plain slate wall tablet in the south aisle is dedicated to Sussana Roberts (died 1833), created by J Bradbury of Bakewell.

An octagonal font in the south aisle is likely from the 17th century, while a font in the north aisle probably dates from the 14th century or earlier. Benefaction boards dated 1773 and 1799 are displayed in the north aisle. A 17th-century oak chest and a Victorian Gothic wooden lectern are also located there, along with traces of wall painting on the west wall. The north west vestry was constructed in 1939 using materials sourced from ‘Thornsett’, a 16th-century house in Chelmorton.