Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church dating back to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations made in later periods. The church is constructed of coursed, squared rubble with a chamfered plinth and stepped buttresses on the tower; a cavetto moulding runs along the eaves of the chancel. It features a graduated slate roof with stone coping and kneelers to the chancel.

The church consists of a west tower, a nave without aisles, and a chancel. The three-stage west tower is from the 12th century, with the upper sections rebuilt in the 16th century. The tower has an embattled parapet and a 17th-century gabled bellcote on its east side. The belfry openings are paired and have trefoil heads. The south door has a pointed head and a continuous chamfered surround. A 14th-century gabled porch has a single 13th-century lancet window to its left, and two restored 14th-century two-light windows under hoodmoulds to the right.

The chancel has a central 14th-century two-light window with a pointed head, flanked by blocked openings. A carved panel displaying the Wharton coat-of-arms is set into the left wall. The 1850 east window is a copy of an earlier five-light window, remnants of which are still visible. A blocked 14th-century priest’s door is to the right of a 19th-century vestry. The nave has some original 14th-century windows, with the rest being 19th-century copies.

The interior features incised stucco walls. A blocked original west doorway lies beneath a 14th-century two-light window. 12th-century responds support the later tower arch. A two-bay arcade on the north side has pointed arches of two chamfered orders, supported by a quatrefoil pier with chalice capitals and filleted shafts. A small pointed-head opening cuts through the wall between the east end of the aisle and the nave. The chancel arch is 19th-century. The nave and chancel are spanned by four-bay hammer-beam roofs of uncertain date, partially concealed by a later ceiling. Numerous panels and brackets with coats of arms are set into the walls of the aisle and chancel. A small memorial brass, in a pedimented frame dated 1692 and bearing a Latin inscription, commemorates Sir John Dalston. The 14th-century piscina has a trefoiled head and a 19th-century drain. A moulded octagonal font, set up in 1688 by the then rector, Thomas Machell, bears his coat of arms on one side. The pulpit, also presented by Machell, is constructed from reused, elaborately carved 17th-century panels (one dated 1631), with some later additions to the top and bottom. The 19th-century communion rails incorporate Machell’s late 17th-century balusters and an inscription originally reading: "ECCLAESIA DE KIRKBY THORE D.D. THO MACHELL RECTOR REG: MA: A SAC: ET COLLEGII REG: OXON: SOCIVS. AN: R: CAROLI II XXXV." According to records, a mid-15th-century bell bears a partially damaged "black-letter" inscription: S (damaged) re Ni Ihc Tas Unus Devs Meserere Nobis. Tradition holds that this bell was brought from Shap Abbey by the abbey’s last abbot, who also served as the rector of Kirkby Thore.