Church of St Michael

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

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

428473

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, (1958)
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Somerset, (1978)

End of official list entry

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