Church Of St Michael And All Angels

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is an Anglican parish church dating back to the 14th century, with significant alterations in the 15th century, and further additions in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed primarily of Ham stone ashlar, with the chancel roof of Welsh slate. The chancel appears to have been rebuilt in the 19th century and features a high plinth and a 3-light east window of 19th-century design, with a mid-transome and pointed-arched label. A matching 2-light window is also present in the south wall. The vestry, positioned to the north-east, exhibits a 3-light chamfered mullioned east window with a flat arch and label, alongside a single cusped-light window to the west, and a pointed-arched doorway.

The nave possesses a tall plinth, angled buttresses, a string course with gargoyles, and battlemented parapets, with windows mirroring the design of the chancel east window. The south porch is partially of 15th-century origin, exhibiting angled corner buttresses, a coped gable, and a shaft-and-hollow outer archway, leading to a moulded inner archway. The tower is likely of 14th-century construction, built in three stages with angled corner buttresses, string courses, gargoyles, and battlemented parapets. The south-east corner of the tower features an octagonal parapet crowned with a weathervane. A 4-centred arched door with carved spandrils and a square label provides the west entrance, above which sits a 3-light window of simple Perpendicular tracery.

Internally, the church has undergone considerable alteration. A 14th-century chancel arch remains, but the arches forming the walls of the vestry are of 12th-century style, although the twin shafts to the jambs are now missing. The nave features an acoustic tile ceiling and predominantly 19th-century fittings. A circular tub font, resting on a cylindrical base of uncertain date, sits beneath the 14th-century tower arch, accompanied by a 20th-century screen. Various memorials are present, including a 18th-century tablet dedicated to William Hoskins, sculpted in black and white marble. Art Nouveau-style leading was added to the south nave windows in 1906, and the north side’s windows were, as of 1986, in the process of being reglazed with coloured glass designed by the parishioners.