Details
ST41NW SHEPTON BEAUCHAMP CP CHURCH STREET (East side)
6/45 Church of St. Michael
4.2.58
GV I
Anglican parish church. C13, C14, C15, C16, restored 1865 by G.E. Street. Coursed and squared lias and Hamstone, coped
verges to lead-sheeting and tile roofs, finials. Predominantly Decorated and Perpendicular, work by Street including
clerestory, aisle and porch in neo-Decorated style. Consists of nave, north and south aisles, north and south porches,
chancel with a north chapel, west tower. Tall 3-stage tower with set-back buttresses ascending to the shafts of former
pinnacles, embattled parapet, gargoyles, 2-light traceried bell-chamber windows with stone grilles, continuing as blank
openings on the ringing chamber below, clock with Roman numerals to west and south, higher polygonal stair-turret to
the north; quatrefoil banding with blank shields between the first and second stages; medieval figure of a bishop in a
canopied niche to west face, C19 figure of St. George in a niche to the south; west face with tall transomed 4-light
window, west doorway in an emphasised surround, ornamental spandrels, flanking shafts with pinnacles, arcade of
quatrefoils with blank shields. Four bay nave clerestory with quatrefoil windows. Three bay south aisle, rebuilt
except single 2-light window to west, probably reused, label with carved heads as stops, parapet with a moulded coping,
gargoyles, buttresses. Rood-stair turret in the angle between the aisle and the chancel. Rebuilt south porch, though a
statue in the gable face is medieval. C15 north aisle, 3 bays, 3-light square-headed windows to north, 2-light
traceried pointed-arch window to the west, parapet with a coping, gargoyle; small porch, stone roof supported on stone
vaulting. Moulded inner and outer doorways. North vestry probably 1865; this partially obscures the embattled north
chapel, large 3-light traceried Perpendicular windows, carved heads as label stops, gargoyles, tall polygonal stack,
Two bay chancel, 2-light Decorated windows to the north and south, diagonal buttresses to east, 3-light window. Scraped
interior on tile and encaustic tile pavements. C19 arch-braced crown-post roof to nave; south aisle under a C19 lean-to
roof; north aisle under C17 lean-to roof, though much renewed; chapel under unceiled wagon roof, C19, though may
incorporate earlier work; chancel under C19 unceiled wagon roof with ribs and bosses, ornamental wallplate, painted
decoration, Three bay south aisle, C14 octagonal piers with moulded caps, except C13 half-circular pier to south-east
end. Two bay north aisle, conforming octagonal pier, and a further bay to the east formed by the double-chamfered arch
of a former north tower; further similar arch between aisle and chapel. Chancel arch by Street. Panelled Perpendicular
arch between chancel and chapel. Panelled Perpendicular tower arch, fine fan-vault with big bosses and a large circular
opening for the bell-ropes. C14 moulded inner doorway to south porch. Good C14 stepped group of a piscina, sedilia, and
doorway, continuous mouldings, the walls between the sedilia seats are pierced by ogee-sided triangles and cinquefoiled
circles. Norman tub font with C19 medieval style cover with ironwork. Perpendicular piscina and a corbel head to
chapel. Jacobean choir. Further 2 pairs of carved high-back chairs which appear to be C17. Many fittings of the
restoration including pews, stone pulpit, stone and wrought-iron chancel screen, choir stalls and reredos. Ten mid/late
C19 stained-glass windows, though that to south-east corner of south aisle appears to incorporate late medieval work.
Early C20 window to the north chapel. Small C18 painting of Christ. Several mid/late C19 wall monuments. Metal charity
plaque under tower. Small organ under tower supported on early C20 Jacobean-type organ loft. Eight bells, 5 dated in
the C18, 2 dated 1905. (Pevsner N, Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, 1958; VCH, Vol IV, 1978).
Listing NGR: ST4029617160
