Church of St Michael

Details

DEWSALL CP - SO 43 SE 6/48 Church of St Michael 26.1.67 - II *

Parish church. C14 with earlier, probably C12 elements; extensively restored 1868. Coursed sandstone rubble, sandstone dressings and weatherboards with Welsh slate and shingle roofs. Almost continuous two-bay nave and one-bay chancel. Western bell-turret and south porch. Bell-turret, largley C19, within west wall of nave has weatherboarded and shingled sides. Twin bell openings to each side, except the east. Broach spire with shingles and weather cock. West elevation has weathered buttresses to each side and a central blocked chamfered doorway with a 2-centred head. North elevation of nave has two pairs of 2-light windows with ogeed and trefoiled heads. To the right-hand side is a weathered buttress beneath the north-east corner of the bell-turret. Chancel has no windows to north elevation and the roof line is slightly lower than that of the nave. East window has two restored ogeed and trefoil-headed lights similar to those of nave. South elevation has two more pairs of ogeed and trefoil-headed lights, one to the chancel and one to the nave, the latter relatively unrestored. Between them is a square-headed blocked window and a chamfered blocked priest's door with a round almost 2-centred head. Weathered buttresses to left of south porch and to right-hand corner of chancel. South porch is probably C14 and little restored. Two bays. Four corner posts carry curved angle struts to cambered ties and straight struts to wall-plates. The front struts form a 2-centred arch with a projection from the tie at the apex. Trusses have relatively straight collars and two pairs of curved wind-braces to lower part of each roof slope. Side walls are on C20 plinth above which are restored boarded panels and openings divided by three studs on each side. C19 oak two-leaved gates each have three open hexagons to top and curved braces to bottom. South doorway, possibly C12 or C13 has semi-circular head and is continuously chamfered. Interior has plastered elliptical ceiling. At junction of nave and chancel are C19 curved struts forming a large trefoil head with pendants, the lower parts supported on a pair of corbels. In the nave is the bottom of a C19 king-post rising from a tie beneath the ceiling. Another tie supports the east end of the bell-turret. C19 wall plates are lightly moulded. Chancel has stained glass in east window showing the Marys and Angels at the sepulchre after The Resurrection, for Walter Morris, died 1882, his wife Dorothea, died 1864, and their son, Walter, died 1888. On the north wall is a slate and marble monument for Ann Skyrme, died 1835, in the form of a pedimented aedicule with scrolled frieze and acroteria. On the south wall is a marble plaque for Thomas and Emma Phillips, children of the then rector, who died aged 11 and 9 of scarlet fever in 1853. Nearby another plaque, for Benjamin, died 1849, another child of the same rector, Thomas Phillips and his wife Penelope. The inscription reads: "May our Eternal Almighty and Merciful GOD/ accept and receive him". Brass collection plate, c1900 with respousse lettering on the margin: "The.Lord.loveth.a.cheerful.giver". Communion table is early C17 of oak with turned legs and lower rails at floor level. The top is restored. C17 bench is oak with turned legs and grooved rails. Late C19 mahogany harmonium by Esley Organ Co, Brattleboro, Vt., USA has crested ends and long fluted candlesticks rising from base to above manual. Bench for harmonium is probably contemporary. It has a cast iron frame with a mahogany plinth to the seat. The frame has scrolled ends linked by a long cyclindrical rail with central radiating finials. Nave has C14 font with octagonal shaft stopped to square base and circular bowl, the underside of which is octagonal. Four of the faces of the underside each have a large ball flower. On the west wall a freestone wall monument partly painted black for William Skyrme, died 1804, with obelisks flanking a central column support- ing an urn. Adjacent is a black monument for Joyce Skyrme, died 1794, with a weeper in base-relief resting on an urn and the inscription, "When such friends part, tis the survivor dies". Beneath are several floor slabs mainly mid-C17 to early C18. On the north wall a black and white marble monument with small pediment for William Mayos, died 1826. On the opposite wall another similar for John Mayos, died 1826. Late C19 pine part-octagonal pulpit with integral bookrest which is adjustable for height by an internal screw and has two rows of square-set quatrefoil panels. Late C19 oak lectern has shaft enriched by tabernacles and book-wedge decorated with openwork panels to front, corner finials and cresting. (BoE, p 110; RCHM, Vol I, p 52-3).

Listing NGR: SO4861733492

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

155348

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Herefordshire I South West, (1931), 52-3
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, (1963), 110

End of official list entry

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