St Michael's Church, Upton Cressett, is a redundant

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church. It stands on a remote hillside adjacent to

Upton Cressett Hall Upton Cressett Hall is an Elizabethan architecture, Elizabethan moated manor house in the village of Upton Cressett, Shropshire, England. It is a Grade I-listed building. The hall was built of brick between c.1540 and c.1580 for the Cressett fam ...

, some 5 km west of the town of Bridgnorth,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England (). It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated 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 ...

, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

History

The church originates from the 12th century. A north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

was added in the 13th century, but this has since been demolished. A chapel was built on the south side of the

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 ...

, probably in the 14th century. In the late

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 ...

era a south porch was added. The church was declared redundant on 2 October 1970, and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Churches Conservation Trust on 1 March 1972.

Architecture

Lines family sketchbook - Upton Crescett 022

St Michael's is a small and simple church containing

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...

. The body of the church is constructed in stone with tiled roofs, and the south porch is timber framed. Its plan consists of a

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 ...

with a south porch, and a chancel with a south chapel. Towards the west end of the nave roof is a weatherboarded

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

with a short spire covered in lead. The Norman architecture includes some of the windows, the south doorway, the arcade of the demolished north aisle, and the chancel arch. The south doorway has two orders of shafts, and two orders decorated with chevrons on its arch. The arcade is visible from the outside of the church and is in two

bays 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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

. The chancel arch is described by the architectural historians John Newman and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

as "the most impressive Norman feature" in the church. It has three orders of shafts and three orders of chevron on the arch. The

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 ...

is also Norman. The east window appears to have been reconstructed as a

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

in the 13th century. On the west wall of the chapel is a painting dating from about 1200. It depicts an enthroned king, and is decorated with foliage scroll-work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Upton Cressett, Saint Michaels Church 12th-century church buildings in England 13th-century church buildings in England Grade I listed churches in Shropshire Church of England church buildings in Shropshire English churches with Norman architecture Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust

History

Architecture

See also

References