The Anglican Church of St Michael and All Angels in

Chaffcombe Chaffcombe is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north east of Chard in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 229. History The name of the village probably comes from a Saxon settler and means "' ...

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 was built in the 15th century. It is a Grade II*

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 ...

History

The first church in Chaffcombe is recorded in 1187. The church was built in the 15th century and tower is still from that period, but the rest of the church was rebuilt between 1857 and 1860 by

James Mountford Allen James Mountford Allen (14 August 1809, Crewkerne, Somerset – 1883, St Pancras, London) was an English architect. Allen was the son of Rev. John Allen, vicar of Bleddington, Gloucestershire, and formerly the master of Crewkerne Grammar Schoo ...

. The parish is part of the Two Shires

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

within the

Diocese of Bath and Wells The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the C ...

Architecture

The stone building has

hamstone Hamstone is the name given to a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material w ...

dressings and clay tile roofs. It has a three-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

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 ...

, two-bay

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

. The three-stage tower is supported by offset

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es. The tower contains a peal of six bells. The outside has several

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s. Inside the church are a copy of the ''Madonna and child'' by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

and an early

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

which pre-dates the current building. The font is undecorated and stands on a cylindrical stem.

References

Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset Grade II* listed churches in Somerset Church of England church buildings in South Somerset {{england-church-stub

History

Architecture

See also

References