Church of St Michael and All Angels

Details

NEWHAVEN

TQ4401SW CHURCH HILL 769-1/7/6 (East side) 20/05/49 Church of St Michael and All Angels

GV II*

Parish church. Norman tower and apse, broached spire added subsequently, N aisle added c1795, aisle and nave lengthened 1810, vestry added 1825, S aisle and S-E porch erected 1854 when church refitted and W gallery built, west porch added 1961 and church restored. (The latter was then linked by a covered walkway to the coeval flat-roofed church rooms - not of special interest.) Mid C19 work by William Gilbert Habershon. Knapped flint, stone dressings, cement render to C19 window openings, tiled roofs, wooden shingled spire. Plan: W porch, 5-bay nave, N and S aisles, S-E porch in angle with E tower, apse on E face. Single-storey apse, pilaster buttresses rising to dentil eaves, remains of string course with dentil moulding below E end lancet window, later lancets to N and S faces; 2-storey tower with broached spire, gargoyles on corbel table below eaves, moulded string course upon which rests 2-lightbell-openings, the E window just above roof ridge of apse, N window has original shaft with shaft ring. S-E porch double doors with ornamental hinges; S front alternate lancets and 2-light windows, W end with three 2-light windows and single-storey porch entered on S front through glazed door, bull's eye window on W front, buttressed N front with butt-joint marking aisle extension, alternate lancet and 2-light windows, flat-roofed vestry with C20 arched-head window. Interior: rendered, nave and aisles mid C19. Open timber tie-beam roofto S aisle, scissor-brace roof to N aisle, moulded wall-plate toeastern bays of nave, possibly remaining from earlier building. Timberposts to 5-bay Tudor-arch head arcades with pierced quatrefoilspandrels. W face of tower arch: plain round-arched opening with 2orders of columns altered by inserted entablature, similar on outer faceto apse, but inner faces roll-moulded and ornamented with scallopedcapitals; unmoulded transverse beams to ceiling; S tower windowround-arched head with deep splays, N window larger and formerly adoor. Apse: window openings resting on string course, pointed lancetsN and S, central round arch lancet at east end with deep splays;simple crown-post roof on tie-beam. Wooden organ gallery runs the lengthof the W end with trefoil-headed arcade decoration. Organ by Batesand Son of Ludgate Hill, London, c1854. Mid C19 fittings including fontwith cover, pulpit, brass lecturn, elegant brass gas-mantel brackets(converted to electricity), late C19 stained glass in apse and tower.Turned oak altar rails presented 1961. A rare example of an E towerwith apsidal end. This was the parish church of Meeching, set on thehillside above the River Ouse; the river subsequently altered its courseafter a great storm in 1570 and Meeching became Newhaven with the growthof the port in the C17. (Buildings of England: Nairn I: Sussex: 1965-; Anon: The Parish Church of St Michael, Newhaven; Sussex Directory: 1895-).

Listing NGR: TQ4426101128

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

374196

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Parish Church of St Michael Newhaven Church Guide, ()
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I, The Buildings of England: Sussex, (1965)
Sussex Directory in Sussex Directory, (1895)

End of official list entry

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