St. Michael's Church is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

in Sutton Bonington,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. The church is a 13th-century 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 ...

.Rushcliffe Borough Council
Conservation Areas: Sutton Bonington

History

Sutton Bonington has two

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

churches, a result of the merging of the two original villages (Sutton and Bonington); they are St. Michael's Church (Bonington's church) and St Anne's Church (Sutton's church, located down St Anne's Lane). St Michael's is the larger (and much taller) of the two churches. The two ancient ecclesiastical parishes of Sutton and Bonington were united for civil purposes in 1829 and combined in 1923 into one ecclesiastical parish (with one rector appointed from 1950). St. Michael's

Rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

, situated on the other side of the Midland Main Line, is now used by the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, who have a large campus just north of the village, to house postgraduate students. Related to the situation of the two original parishes, Sutton and Bonington are separate manors, named after their churches — St. Anne and St. Michael respectively. Register safe

Present day

Regular services continue to be held in both churches. The current priest in charge (for both churches in Sutton Bonington) is Glenn Martin, who is also the priest in charge of the neighbouring parish of

Normanton on Soar Normanton on Soar (), formerly known as Normanton-upon-Soar and known locally as Normanton, is a village and civil parish in the south of Nottinghamshire in England near the River Soar. This historic village is home to one of the last operating ...

(with its Grade I Church of St. James).

Bells

The tall church tower has a peal of six bells. Originally the peal consisted of just three bells, cast by Henry Oldfield's foundry in Nottingham, two of which remain; the oldest dates back to 1579 and is the second oldest bell in Nottinghamshire. Two more bells were added in 1849/50 and a sixth bell in 1977 purchased for the sum of £320 from St Andrews church Watton at Stone Hertfordshire to commemorate the

Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the Silver jubilee, 25th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was celebrated with large-scale parties and parades throughout the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth o ...

. The weights of the bells range from 4cwts 86 lbs (

treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

) to 17cwts 97 lbs (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

). The installation has recently been restored by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...

, a large bell foundry in nearby Loughborough who cast a number of the bells.Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers
Sutton Bonington The bells are rung for Sunday morning services and at fortnightly practice sessions.

External links

Church History
Southwell Diocesan Church History Project

By Rev. W E Buckland. (Rector of St. Anne's)

St. Michael's and St. Anne's Churches
Images of England
Photo and Listed building description
Flickr
Photos of the church

Photos of the church (from Geograph)
Panorama
taken from St. Michael's Church tower, showing almost all the old Bonington village

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton Bonington, St Michael's Church Church of England church buildings in Nottinghamshire Grade II* listed churches in Nottinghamshire