Church Of St Mary And St Michael

The Church of St Mary and St Michael is a Grade I listed building located in Great Urswick. The church features a west tower dating from the 13th century, with an upper stage in the Perpendicular style. The chancel also originates from the 13th century but was lengthened in the 14th century, while the nave and vestry were built in the 14th century. The structure is made of stone rubble with ashlar dressings and has slate roofs.

The tower includes a pointed west entrance with a three-light Perpendicular window above it and a 15th-century Pieta in a niche. It has three-light straight-headed louvred bell-openings and a coped embattled parapet. The four-bay nave features a gabled south porch with a round-arched entrance; the inner door has relief panels dated 1909, and there is a quatrefoil above the porch. The nave has two-light Decorated windows with hood moulds and stops, as well as a two-light single-chamfered-mullioned window. The north elevation displays two-light straight-headed windows with pointed lights. The chancel has a coped gable with a cross, a three-light east window with a transom and flowing tracery, a lancet window, and a two-light window with flowing tracery flanking a pointed entrance. The north side has a two-light Perpendicular window and a vestry with gabled ends and two-light windows. The south elevation is adorned with attached headstones from the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Inside, the roof dates from 1598, featuring a tie beam with initials, king posts with arch braces and struts, and butt purlins on the north side. There is a west gallery from 1828 supported by paired Tuscan columns. The church contains a 19th-century font and a medieval font with a richly decorated cover dated 1921. The tower entrance features a door made from decorative fragments. A 18th-century three-decker pulpit and a reconstructed pew are located on the south side. The unchamfered chancel arch has niches in the jambs and a rood beam with angel supporters for the cross and two saints, created by A. Millar of the Guild of Handicrafts in 1910. The Guild also crafted the richly decorated organ case, east panelling, reredos featuring an 18th-century Last Supper, stalls, vestry door, south door, pulpit tester, and credence table. The chancel includes a pillar piscina, a squint, 18th-century brass floor plates, and a 13th-century grave slab. The nave has 19th and 20th-century stained glass, while the chancel features 19th-century and medieval armorial stained glass along with fragments.