St Michael's Church is an
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 in the village of
St Michael's on Wyre,
Lancashire, England. It is a typical
late Medieval church and has been designated by
English Heritage as a Grade I
listed building. It is an active
parish church in the
Diocese of Blackburn and the archdeaconry of
Lancaster.
History
St Michael's on Wyre is one of seven ancient parishes of the
hundred of
Amounderness. It was the third largest, with an area of .
The ''
Domesday Book'' of 1086 lists three churches in Amounderness, one of which was probably St Michael's.
There has certainly been a church on the site from at least the 13th century, elements of which remain in the current building.
The present church was possibly built in the 15th century and alterations were made in the 17th century. The church was designated a Grade I
listed building on 17 April 1967.
The Grade I listing is for buildings "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".
Architecture
The church is typical of
late Medieval churches of northern England and is constructed of
sandstone ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
and rubble.
The plan consists of a tower at the west end, a
chancel and
nave under a continuous roof and a
chapel to the north.
The tower is said to date from 1549.
It is broad and low with a west window and has three stages, the upper of which (added later) is inset.
The date 1611 and the
coat of arms and initials of Henry Butler are carved into the
parapet.
The tower's plan is
trapezoidal and it has angled
buttresses.
The chancel and nave are under a continuous roof of blue
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
. There is an
aisle to the south under a separate
gabled slate roof, with an
embattled
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
parapet and
buttresses.
The aisle is separated from the chancel by two wide arches. There is a
porch to the south of the south aisle.
A shorter aisle lies to the north of the church, west of the Butler Chapel.
The Butler Chapel to the north of the church dates from 1480 and was founded as a
chantry of St Katharine.
It was repaired in 1797 and
reseated and restored in 1854.
It has a pitched roof with an embattled parapet which dates from the 19th century.
Its windows have flat heads with
cinquefoil tops and upper mouchettes.
The tower houses a
ring of three bells, hung in a timber frame.
The treble was cast in 1458 and given to the church by a French lady named Catherine de Bernieules, Lady of Neufchatel.
It is inscribed with
Gothic script.
The second bell was cast in 1663 by Geoffrey Scott of
Wigan. The third dates from 1742 and was cast by
Abel Rudhall
Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 cast more than 5,000 bells.
History
There had been a tradition of bell casting in Gloucester since before the 14th century. ...
of Gloucestershire.
See also
*
Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire
This is a list of Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire, England.
In the United Kingdom, the term "listed building" refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural signifi ...
*
Listed buildings in Upper Rawcliffe-with-Tarnacre
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's On Wyre, Church Of St Michael
Church of England church buildings in Lancashire
Diocese of Blackburn
Grade I listed churches in Lancashire
Michael, St Michael's