The Church of St Michael in

Stawley Stawley is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 279 and includes the village of Kittisford and the hamlets of Appley, Greenham and Tra ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England dates from the 13th century and has been designated as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The current church stands on the site of an earlier

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

church from which some

herringbone pattern The herringbone pattern is an arrangement of rectangles used for floor tilings and road pavement, so named for a fancied resemblance to the bones of a fish such as a herring. The blocks can be rectangles or parallelograms. The block edge length ...

walling survives in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. Much of the current church was built in early 16th century, paid for by local farmer and trader Henry Howe, who is remembered by a scroll over the door. Additional funding, possibly by the family of

John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett (1585 – 20 March 1649), of Hinton St George, Somerset, was an English sailor and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1621 and was later raised to the peerage. Origins Poulett was the so ...

, paid for the tower which displays their coat of arms with three swords. The church register dates from 1528. Despite some minor

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proce ...

in 1873 the church fabric is largely as it would have been in medieval times. In 2007 a sixth bell, which had previously been at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in

Maperton Maperton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south west of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 140. However, this small number includes Elliscombe House care home which alone has an ...

, was added to the existing peel in the three-stage west tower. The Anglican parish which was once part of the benefice of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and district within the archdeadconry of Taunton, is now part of the newley formed benefice of West Tone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stawley, Saint Michael 13th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Taunton Deane Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane

See also

References