Church Of St Michael

The Church of St Michael is a parish church that dates back to the 11th century, with significant additions and restorations made in the 14th, 15th, and 19th centuries. It is constructed from coursed and squared rubble, featuring lead sheeting roofs, slate on the chancel, coped verges, and cruciform finials. The church has a nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch, and a south transept that now serves as a vestry, along with a west tower. The overall architectural style is predominantly Perpendicular.

The three-stage tower, built around 1400, includes set-back buttresses, a pierced parapet, pinnacles, a stair turret, and triple 2-light bell-chamber openings, with blank openings on each side. It also features gargoyles, a west door, and a renewed 5-light west window. The south doorway, which is Norman, showcases chevron decoration, while the early 14th-century porch adds to the historical significance. The south transept, built in the 14th century, has an ogee-headed west lancet.

The 15th-century north aisle consists of six bays and includes a pierced parapet, pinnacles, and gargoyles. Inside, there is an arcade with piers featuring 4-wave moulding and a panelled lean-to roof supported by angel corbels. The nave, also from the 15th century, has a wagon roof with reused bosses and corbels, though it has been largely altered in the Victorian era. The chancel was restored in the 19th century, and there is a reused 11th-century pillar piscina in the north aisle.

Notable interior features include important 14th and 15th-century pews with tracery, poppy heads, and figures, particularly on the south side of the nave, which depict three allegorical panels representing the punishment of Reynard the Fox in the attire of an abbot. A large painted wall monument in the nave commemorates John Somerset from 1663, featuring three three-quarter figures, two reliefs, twisted columns, and a pediment. The church also contains an 11th-century quatrefoil font with a 19th-century cover, a pulpit from 1637, a Jacobean coffin-stool and chair, a medieval parish chest, and three 19th-century wall monuments. The royal arms are displayed, and the chancel features encaustic tiles and a painted reredos. Additionally, there is a 19th-century west gallery that incorporates an organ.