Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a building of group value comprising a church, probably dating from the late 12th century. The bell tower was constructed in 1360, an east tower in the 15th century, with alterations in 1713 and a restoration in 1881. The church is built of squared and coursed red and calciferous sandstone, sourced from the nearby Roman Wall and Roman Fort upon which the church stands. It features a graduated greenslate roof, and a 20th-century brick chimney stack on the vestry.

The church consists of a three-story west tower, a three-bay nave with a north aisle, a two-bay chancel, and a single-bay vestry under a common roof. The west tower has extremely thick walls with a chamfered plinth and clasping buttresses. The vaulted lower chamber contains a newel staircase in the south-west angle, lit by arrow slits. Internal steps run through the thickness of the west wall to an arrow slit, and a loophole is found near the former north entrance to the aisle. A south-east buttress bears the inscription “I.S. 1560(?).” First-floor lancet windows are present on each wall; the east wall window looks into the nave. Round-arched bell openings are above, with square-headed openings in the east wall. The exterior features a battlemented parapet with projecting lead water spouts.

The east entrance from the nave has an iron gate and drawbar tunnel. The church contains medieval bells. A Norman north entrance to the aisle, originally repositioned, has beakhead decoration and was subject to Victorian restoration. Inscriptions are on the jambs: "I.B. 1769" and "I.B. 1842." When the bell tower was added, the original north entrance was blocked, and a shouldered-arched entrance was opened in the west wall of the aisle, which is now blocked. Pointed lancet windows were added in 1881. The south wall of the nave has three blocked square-headed windows, replaced with 19th-century two-light windows with plate tracery, flanking a large 18th-century aedicule monument with a weathered inscription.

The chancel has pointed lancet windows from 1881 and a probable “leper’s window,” apparently within a blocked priest’s entrance. The vestry was formerly the vicar's tower, reduced in height and gabled over, likely in 1713, and retains the remains of a blocked 15th-century window and round-headed 18th-century windows, with a 19th-century sash window with glazing bars in the east end.

Internally, the three-bay north aisle arcade has pointed arches on octagonal columns with stiff-leaf capitals. The columns collapsed when the tower was built in 1360 and were subsequently rebuilt. The nave has an open timber roof from 1881 and contains 19th-century stained glass. A 19th-century chancel arch provides access to an aumbry recess. The east sanctuary wall features an entrance to the vestry on the right and a sculptured corbel stone from the Roman Fort on the left. The church contains early 20th-century furnishings, including an 18th-century font on a 19th-century shaft.

The church is one of a small number of fortified churches in the border area and is unique for having two fortified towers. Unpublished notes by B.C. Jones (1978), held at Cumbria County Record Office, provide further historical context.