Church of St Michael and All Angels

Details

LITTLE MARCLE CP A 4172 (east side) SO 63 NE

5/29 Church of St Michael and All Angels

- II

Parish church. Consecrated 1869. By J W Hugall. Coursed red sandstone rubble with buff-coloured stone dressings and stone and tile roofs; verges at east and west and at junction of nave and chancel with crosses at east apeces of nave and chancel Three-bay nave and two-bay choir in modified C13 style. West bell turret in style reminiscent of Auvergnac Romanesque. Nave and choir stand partly on west verge and partly on attached column rising from central west buttress; north porch and vestry with south organ chamber. West front has battered base and pronounced moulded string course beneath two lancets, one either side of attached column with double capital in form of elaborated dosseret, each lancet contains quatrefoil tracery supported on trefoils; octagonal bell turret overhangs trefoiled squinches and has alternate sides open and supported by three clustered columns, its spire has semi-circular indentations, quatrefoiled openings and is topped by a moulded finial and wrought iron weather vane. North porch is gabled with a cross, moulded string course rises to impost level of pointed entrance arch. North windows of nave are 2-centred with labels each containing two trefoil-headed lights beneath a quatrefoil, the one to the west resting on two foils, the one to the east on one foil. Vestry is gabled to north and has a cylindrical chimney and four open lancets, under a conical cap with a finial; its west doorway has chamfered jambs with lamb's tongue stops and a shouldered head. East window of three lights, the outer ones trefoiled with quatrefoiled tracery above, is placed above a rising string course beneath which is the consecration stone. Organ chamber projecting from west end of south side of chancel has four segmentally-headed lights beneath eaves level each containing recessed, cusped heads; the roof has three heavy overhanging layers of stone, the bottom one linked to quoins. South windows of nave are similar to those of the west front except that they are under chamfered labels and have neither string course nor battered plinth beneath. Interior: nave with open collar roof with ashlar pieces; chancel, open wagon roof with scissor struts, 2-centred chancel arch has supporting columns with waist bands and capitals related to that on the west front. Chancel: aumbry under trefoiled head in north wall; attached columns with water-lily capitals to jambs of east window, wooden bench in position of sedilia beneath south-west window; segmental-headed recess in-south wall is obscured by late C19 organ manual and pipes. Vestry: piscina on east wall has 2-centred head and sexfoil drain on cavetto moulded cill supported by two brackets each pierced horizontally and laterally with a small hole; fireplace to cylindrical chimney has 2-centred arch with inset semi-circular headed cast iron grate aperture; studded oak medieval chest with two lids and heavy strap hinges, probably from previous parish church; austere marble wall monument to Rev John Jones, rector of parish (and therefore of previous church) died 1857, recording that he was a benefactor of the new church. Nave: pulpit has cyclindrical plan, battered base, chamfered top and curved chamfered buttresses to north and south, the latter forming a hand rail alongside the steps, moulded desk supported by two brackets on marble wall shafts with acanthus leaves running from the brackets to abaci; font: basin is octagonal with moulded top edge and sunken quatrefoil side panels supported on four columns with red marble shafts each with different capitals, cast iron late C19 stove by C Portway & Son, Halstead, Essex, inscribed, "The Tortoise Stove/ No 4/ Slow but Sure". Inside the west window is a massive corbelled square section pier, under the bell turret, which characteristically has two layers of foliage above acanthus buds. The present church is 50 yards north-north-east of its predecessor. (RCHM Vol II, p 127; BoE p 237).

Listing NGR: SO6709536480

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

152694

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Herefordshire II East, (1932), 127
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, (1963), 237

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.