Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a church dating from the 13th, 15th and 17th centuries, constructed of regular coursed limestone with an ashlar tower and porch, and a 20th-century artificial slate roof. It comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, west tower and south porch. The south elevation of the chancel, from the 15th century, contains a three-light window with arch-head lights, and a small side lancet. The east window is a three-light square-head window with arch-head lights and a wooden lintel. The north chancel elevation features two two-light square-head windows. The south aisle has three windows with two- and three-lights of the square-head type. A steep gable roof forms a catslide with the nave roof, featuring an ashlar gable parapet, partly stepped at the apex. The gabled south porch has a double chamfered outer arch and a roll moulded inner arch. The north nave elevation consists of three windows, two being four-light square-head windows with arch-head lights on the right, and one 14th-century two-light window on the left. A south door is located to the right of the centre. The west tower, dating from approximately 1618, has two stages and a deep roll moulded plinth, with shallow three-stage buttresses at the western corners. Square-head bell-chamber openings with two lights are present on each face of the upper stage, topped by a castellated parapet.

Inside, the five-bay south arcade separating the nave has octagonal piers and double chamfered arches, with a section of wall between bays. The double chamfered 4-centred chancel arch also has octagonal responds. The nave ceiling incorporates a plastered tunnel vault with plain tie beams. A 20th-century roof covers the chancel. An arched tomb recess is located behind the pulpit, with a late 18th-century panelled pulpit and a 19th-century family pew attached to the rear. A vestry screen retains two original panels, likely from the 17th century. The Perpendicular chancel screen was restored in the 19th century. A communion rail with turned balusters is present, alongside a piscina with a trefoil head to the right of the altar. Monuments include one to Arthur Brooke, who died in 1620, featuring a stone tablet with reeded pilasters, a dentilled cornice, scrolls and obelisks; a plain tomb chest is located beneath. A tablet commemorating Mary Supple, who died in 1782, is on the south wall, and a marble tablet by Francis of London remembers Sir Richard Brooke de Capell Brooke, who died in 1829, featuring a draped urn. Several other tablets record members of the de Capell Brooke family. Five hatchments are in the chancel roof and one is above the family pew in the nave. An inscribed brass plaque is in the south wall of the chancel. The octagonal font is of historic interest. C19 misericords in the chancel incorporate earlier work, said to originate from Pipewell Abbey. Fragments of medieval glass are in the north chancel window. Outside, a pair of headstones, one dated 1681 and the other similar from the 17th century, are constructed from limestone ashlar, with scull decoration and partially legible inscriptions.