Church of St Michael

Details

CHIRBURY C.P. CHIRBURY SO 29 NE

8/43 Church of St. Michael - 21.3.68 GV I

Monastic church, now parochial. Late C12 with early C13 aisles and west tower of c.1300; chancel 1733 and whole restored 1871-2. Uncoursed and roughly coursed limestone rubble with pink sandstone ashlar dressings; red brick chancel on rubblestone plinth; slate roofs to nave and aisles with fishscale tiles to chancel, coped verges. Nave and aisles with later west tower survive from monastic church; remainder demolished at Dissolution and present chancel added 1733; north-east porch and vestry dated 1848 internally. Tower: in three stages with chamfered plinth and stepped diagonal buttresses, pyramidal roof and brass weathercock; open cusped arched parapet with intermediate and corner pinnacles rebuilt in 1854 as copy of existing parapet, restored animal and human heads to cornice below. Two-light Perpendicular openings with hoodmoulds to belfry and small chamfered rectangular windows with round arches and hollow spandrels to second stage on north, south and west sides; decayed C13 figure sculpture (probably not in situ) to string course of first stage on south and west; triple-chamfered west doorway with hoodmould. Nave: only tops of north and south walls (probably late C12)are visible above early C13 lean-to aisles, southern partly rebuilt with flying buttresses of 1871; both are of 5 bays, with late C19 Decorated-style fenestration plus continuous hoodmould on south; west wall of each aisle retains original paired lancets, that on north totally renewed late C19. Short one-bay chancel with east window of 3 broad lancets probably C18 but altered 1871-2. Gabled north-east porch and vestry have round arched doorway and window with raised keystones, two C13 carved heads inserted to apexes of gables. Interior: high north and south walls of nave pierced by 5-bay arcades with circular piers and capitals; pointed arches have single chamfering and filleted roll-moulding. Good late C15 arch-braced collar-beam roof in 12 bays with V-struts from collars and 3 tiers of cusped windbraces, upper 2 forming quatrefoil patterns, similar roofs to aisles; C18 brass chandelier hangs from eastern tie beam of nave roof. Triple-chamfered C14 west doorway but tall pointed chancel arch is of 1871. Low, late C19 stone screen at west end of chancel with altar rails and stone and mosaic reredos (c.1877) designed by Blomfield and executed by Powells. Font of medieval but indeterminate date was probably originally a stoup: octagonal stepped pedestal with 4 semi-circular lobes and angle brackets to circular basin. C13 aumbry and piscina in south aisle with some-glazed medieval floor tiles (probably re-set) nearby. Stained glass: south aisle, east window an Annunciation by Kempe (1894) with 2 windows to west by W. E. Tower, dated 1918 and 1932 respectively; chancel, north and south windows by Powell (1890). Monuments: plain late 018 to mid-C19 wall tablets in chancel: momento mori to Richard Loid (died 1589), skull in circular recess above coat-of-arms, to south of chancel arch with a tablet to Revd. Thomas Bray, founder of S.P.C.K., to north (erected 1901); wall memorials to John Davies (died 1792) and George Roberts (died 1747) flank chancel arch. C18 funerary hatchments in tower, which has an elaborate wall memorial to John Prichard (died 1728), fluted columns with Corinthian capitals and shaped broken pediment with coat-of-arms; skull and cross bone motifs to sides with crudely carved angel below inscription. The chancel screen and choir stalls were removed to the church at Montgomery after the Dissolution and the chained book library formerly in the church is now at Shrewsbury. The Augustinian priory, of which the church is the principal survival, was originally established at Snead, approximately 6 miles to south-east, in late C12 but had moved to Chirbury before 1227. 2 churches and a priest are, however, recorded at Chirbury in Domesday. B.O.E. pp.98-9; D.H.S. Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 7 (1905) pp.541-48.

Listing NGR: SO2613398514

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

257368

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cranage, DHS, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, (1908), 541-48
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958), 98-9

End of official list entry

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