St Michael's Church is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

. Completed in 1837 to replace an earlier church, its spire is a landmark in the north of the city centre.

Background

The church stands between Broad and Walcot Streets, where they merge onto Northgate Street, next to the Post Office building. The south tower (referred to as the W tower) fronts Northgate street and is prominent on Bath's skyline. The church is known as St Michael's Without, it being the first church to be found outside Bath's city walls when exiting from the North Gate. The parish was in the past known as St Michael's with St Paul's. In 2013, with the closure of Holy Trinity Church on Queen's Square, the two parishes were merged and the parish reverted to its original name of St Michael Without.

Medieval church

The parish has been located here, outside the city walls, since medieval times. It was outside the Northgate and would have been passed by wool merchants travelling on London Road. The area that would in Georgian times be called Bath New Town (not to be confused with neighbouring

Bathwick Bathwick is an area and electoral ward in the city of Bath, in the Bath and North East Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre. The district became pa ...

New Town) was known as St. Michael's.

Georgian church

Designed and constructed by craftsman J. Harvey between 1734 and 1742, the structure featured an impressive dome and was half the size of the current Victorian structure. The church is associated with several famous people. The actress Elizabeth Linley was baptised here in 1754.

Victorian church

The Georgian church was rebuilt in 1835–1837 to designs in Early English style by

G. P. Manners George Phillips Manners (1789 – 28 November 1866) was a British architect, who was Bath City Architect from 1823 to 1862. In his early career, he worked with Charles Harcourt Masters, and after about 1845 was in partnership with J. E. Gill. He ...

, the city architect. The building provided seating for 780 and cost £6,000. The rectangular limestone ashlar building is under one roof to provide enough height in the aisles to accommodate galleries (since removed). The tall three-light aisle windows have pointed heads and decorative colonnettes, and the tower which projects to the south has a matching, taller, triple window on its south side below a smaller

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

. The tower carries an ornate octagonal open lantern and a spire. Fittings include canvasses from the mid-18th century altar-piece of the earlier church, among them a Christ with the Cross by

William Hoare William Hoare, RA ( – 12 December 1792) was an English painter. From 1740 to 1759, he was the leading oil portraitist at Bath, Somerset until Thomas Gainsborough arrived in the town. Noted for his pastels, Hoare was a co-founder of the R ...

. The organ was installed by William Sweetland in 1847. The interior of the church was remodelled in 1901 by Wallace Gill. The church was designated as Grade II* listed in 1950. The listing describes it as a notable example of a pre-

Pugin Pugin most commonly refers to Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852), an English architect and designer. Members of his family include: * Augustus Charles Pugin Augustus Charles Pugin (born Auguste-Charles Pugin; 1762 – 19 Decem ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

church with an opulent High Victorian sanctuary, and notes that the high-quality interior is in fine condition.

References

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'' (195 ...

, ''The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol'', (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1958), 107–108.

External links

Photos of St. Michael's
– ''Bath Daily Photo'', 7 January 2007 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bath, Saint Michael Churches completed in 1837 19th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England church buildings in Bath and North East Somerset

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