Church of St Michael is a Grade II listed building in the Cumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 August 1984. Church.
Church of St Michael
- WRENN ID
- crumbling-parapet-thrush
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Cumberland
- Constituency
- Whitehaven and Workington MP: Josh MacAlister (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 9 August 1984
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St Michael, Arlecdon and Frizington
- OS grid reference
- NY 052 198
- Coordinates
- 54.5651, -3.46738
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Michael is a parish church founded in the 12th century. It was restored in 1776, with the nave rebuilt in 1829. The church was remodelled and a tower was added around 1904, as indicated by the date on the rainwater heads. The east end and the north side of the chancel are constructed of ashlar on a plinth, while the rest is made of rough-dressed snecked rubble. The tower features stepped buttressing, and there are blocking courses on the nave and chancel, which are castellated in part. The roofs are covered with graduated slate and have stone coping and an apex cross at the east end.
The church includes a west tower with a baptistry, a nave, a chancel, and a north chapel. The three-stage castellated tower has perpendicular detailing, including a traceried west window and paired belfry openings. There is a polygonal baptistry on the south side and a porch door on the right with a four-centred head. Each side of the nave has three lancets with hoodmoulds, and the east end features three stepped lancets under a continuous hoodmould. The north chapel has paired lancets.
Inside, the nave is plastered and features a painted frieze, with king-post roof trusses that have Gothic panelling on the sides. The pointed chancel arch, dating from around 1630, was rebuilt but retains parts of the original 12th-century arch. The narrow chancel has a blocked door on the south side, which is believed to be from the 17th century. There is a painted and carved stone Gothic reredos and a painted, carved stone polygonal pulpit. The font in the baptistry has a large octagonal bowl dated 1578. The nave contains 19th-century stained glass by various artists, and there are stained glass panels reused in the east windows from various dates up to the early 19th century, with some possibly dating back to the 16th century.
Local climate
Church of St Michael sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,540 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 21 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 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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