Church Of St Michael

Church of St Michael

An Anglican parish church of two cells (chancel and nave) with south porch and west tower. The building dates from the 11th or 12th century in origin, but was substantially reshaped during the 14th and 15th centuries, with some 19th-century restoration work.

The walls are constructed in Cary stone, cut and squared, with Doulting ashlar dressings. The chancel is roofed in stone slate with a stepped coped gable and cross finial, while the nave and porch have Welsh slate roofs, also with stepped coped gables; the porch bears a ball finial.

The chancel comprises 2 bays and features a double plinth with angled corner buttresses. The east window is a 3-light 14th-century window with traceried design set in a hollow-chamfered pointed arched reveal with an arched label having curl stops. Matching 2-light windows appear on the south and north sides (one only to the north), and a blocked former pointed arched doorway sits between the south windows.

The nave of 3 bays has a double plinth but no buttresses. On the north side is a projection housing the rood staircase, followed by a cusped 2-light flat-headed window without label, a blocked elliptical arched doorway, and a narrow early Perpendicular 2-light window beneath a square label. The south wall contains two 2-light windows matching the chancel sidelights, though with shallower reveals and square stops to their arched labels.

The south porch, set in the centre bay of the nave, has a simple chamfered pointed outer arch. Inside are bench seats and a 11th or 12th-century inner arch decorated with chevron and lozenge ornament on the outer arch. A possibly 15th or 16th-century cambered sub-arch and door of similar date are present. The side shafts carry scallop capitals; one shaft has chevron decoration and the other features twist mould. A small semi-circular arched stoup stands to the right, and nearby are two scratch dials.

The west tower is in two stages, with the lower occupying three-quarters of the total height. It lacks a plinth but has string courses and battlemented parapets with simply carved corner pinnacles and angled corner buttresses (to the half or lower stage). The west doorway may be 13th-century—a chamfered pointed arch with simple moulded label and figurehead above—with an early door. Above this sits a simple 14th-century traceried 2-light window under a plain arched label. The north side of this stage is plain, while the south side has a small cusped arched recess at low level and a small plain lancet at high level. The second stage features cusped 2-light flat-headed windows on each face without labels and with stone louvres; the windows to the north and east faces have no tracery.

The interior contains work of all periods. The chancel features an arched timber rib and boarded panel vault with bosses, and a 14th or 15th-century chancel arch with internal ferramenta to windows. Early 20th-century wall panelling and fittings are present, including a well-detailed rood screen set on the nave side of the chancel arch, which makes use of the original stairs.

The nave has a similar ceiling and a narrow tower arch with carved head corbels beneath capitals. Windows have simple rere-arches, those in the north wall being elliptical. The pews are probably 19th-century, replacing former box pews. A 17th-century timber pulpit with carved panels is present, along with a simple 11th-century font bowl.

Medieval heraldic stained glass appears in the north windows, and the east window may contain further fragments. Memorials are mostly 20th-century, but three fine incised 17th-century Keinton slab memorials are set into the nave floor. A case on the north wall displays two fragments of 14th or 15th-century carved alabaster figurines, possibly representing St Michael and a Crucified Christ and perhaps derived from a former reredos.