St Michael's Church, Marbury

St Michael's Church, Marbury

St Michael's Church, Marbury, from the south
St Michael's Church, Marbury
Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°00′22″N 2°39′23″W / 53.0062°N 2.6564°W / 53.0062; -2.6564
OS grid reference SJ 560,457
Location Marbury, Cheshire
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Website St Michael, Marbury
History
Dedication Saint Michael
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade II*
Designated 12 January 1967
Architect(s) Sir Jeffry Wyatville (chancel 1822)
Douglas and Fordham
(restoration 1891–92)
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic, Gothic Revival
Completed 1892
Specifications
Materials Red sandstone ashlar,
Slate roof
Administration
Parish Marbury
Deanery Malpas
Archdeaconry Chester
Diocese Chester
Province York
Clergy
Vicar(s) Rev Stephen Walton

St Michael's Church, also known as St Michael and All Angels, stands on a small rise overlooking Big Mere in the village of Marbury, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with those of St Chad, Tushingham, and St Mary, Whitewell.[2]

History

A timber, wattle and daub church was present on the site in 1299. The current church dates from the 15th century, the first incumbent being registered in 1530. The church was a parochial chapel annexed to Whitchurch until 1870, when it became a perpetual curacy.[3] The chancel added in 1822 by Sir Jeffry Wyatville.[4] In 1891–92, the church was restored by Douglas and Fordham, the organ chamber was added, the plaster roof was replaced with carved oak panelling, and oak furnishings were added.[1][3][4] To celebrate the 2000 Millennium a new sundial was added to the south wall of the church.[5]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red sandstone with a slate roof.[1] Its plan consists of a tower at the west end, a three-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel with vestry to the north, and a south porch.[6] The tower is Perpendicular in style.[1] It has two string courses which are decorated with carvings of animals and flowers,[3] and there are many gargoyles depicting images such as monkeys, twins, smiling faces and grotesque faces on the exterior of the church.[7] The sandy soil of the area is causing subsidence, with the tower being 25 inches (64 cm) from the vertical in 1999.[3]

Interior

The octagonal timber pulpit, dating from the 15th century, features crocketed ogee panels; it is the oldest in existence in Cheshire.[3][7] The church also contains an 1855 monument to William H. Poole with a Gothic canopy. In the tower are charity boards, including a circular one dated 1777.[4] There is a ring of six bells. Four of these are by Rudhall of Gloucester, three being dated 1719, the other 1790. The other bells were cast by John Warner and Sons in 1864 and 1892.[8] The parish registers begin in 1538.[7]

External features

A schoolhouse was built in the churchyard in 1688, but was demolished in 1824. The present churchyard contains the hollow trunk of a 1000-year-old yew, held together by chains,[3] and the war grave of a Royal Field Artillery soldier of World War I.[9] The lych gate is a memorial to those who fell in World War I and is inscribed "Ye who live on, mid-English pastures green. Remember us and think of what might have been".[3][7] The lych gate is listed at Grade II,[10] as are the sandstone churchyard walls which date from the 16th or 17th century.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Historic England, "Church of St Michael, Marbury cum Quoisley (1225604)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2012
  2. ↑ Marbury, St Michael, Church of England, retrieved 13 October 2009
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wrenbury and Marbury: The History of Two Parishes and the Nearby Villages, Latham FA, ed. (Local History Group; 1999), p.71 (ISBN 0-9522284-5-9)
  4. 1 2 3 Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 471–472, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
  5. ↑ Thornber, Craig (2001), A Scrapbook of Cheshire Antiquities: Marbury-cum-Quoisley, retrieved 3 October 2007
  6. ↑ Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, p. 50, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
  7. 1 2 3 4 Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: B. T Batsford, pp. 225–227
  8. ↑ Marbury S Michael, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, retrieved 11 August 2008
  9. ↑ HOPLEY, ALFRED, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 3 February 2013
  10. ↑ Historic England, "Lychgate in Churchyard of St Michael, Marbury cum Quoisley (1138496)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2012
  11. ↑ Historic England, "Churchyard wall at Church of St Michael, Marbury cum Quoisley (1266265)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2012

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