The Church of St Michael and All Angels

Summary

A combined church and schoolroom of 1846-9, designed by HJ Whitling of Shrewsbury in a neo-Norman style. The gig house or bier house and stable which stands to the south-east of the church is not of special architectural or historic interest and not included in the listing.

Reasons for Designation

The church of St Michael and All Angles, Cwm Head, Shropshire, of 1846-9 by HJ Whitling of Shrewsbury, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural quality: although of modest size and built to a tight budget, the church has presence and exhibits careful design and thoughtful detailing.
* Degree of survival: the original design survives, very largely intact, with later additions which are sympathetic and add to its interest.

History

The church was built between 1842 to 1844 to the designs of HJ Whitling of Shrewsbury. Whitling, who had lived in London and practiced in Cornwall and Devon, moved to Shropshire in 1840. He apparently misled the incumbent vicar at Cwm Head that his designs had been approved by the Incorporated Church Building Society, and by 1844 he had left the country 'having got into pecuniary difficulties' (see SOURCES, Colvin). Whitling's other church at Walmley, Shropshire, was also in the neo-Norman style.

Details

A combined church and schoolroom of 1846-9, designed by HJ Whitling of Shrewsbury in a neo-Norman style.

MATERIALS and PLAN: rubble sandstone with stone dressings and a slate roof. The building has a nave and apsidal chancel with a western porch, in line with the nave, and a bell tower attached to the north side of the chancel, which houses a vestry at ground level.

EXTERIOR: the nave has three bays divided by broad buttresses with quoins and angled offsets to their tops and a roll moulding half way up. Each arched lancet window is set in a relieving arch, and have diagonally tooled stonework with a carved border to the individual stone blocks. The eastern wall of the nave is marked by a coping which projects above the roof level and has a stone cross to its apex. The chancel has a stone roll moulding at sill level which circles follows the curve of the apse. Rafter ends re shown at eaves level and are carved around the apse. The western porch is gabled and has a round-arched portal with colonettes to either side with carved capitals. To either side is a single lancet window. The western wall of the nave has setback buttresses to each corner and a circular window to the gable with chamfered surround. The tower to the north of the chancel has a single lancet to its north face. It dies back via an offset to a more slender belfry stage, which has chamfers at the corners and two-light louvered openings to each side. The short, octagonal, stone spire is splay-footed to meet with the square body of the tower.

INTERIOR: the nave has widely-spaced, slender common rafters and a single rank of purlins. The trusses are formed of wall posts and arched braces which rise from moulded, wooden brackets to join the ties which support a king post with angle braces. The round chancel arch is plain and the chancel has a roll moulding at dado height. Pine pews in the nave appear to be C19, as does the altar table with its round-arched frieze. Oak choir stalls are of early-C20 date. Windows are clear glass, with the exception of the eastern window of 1864 by Done and Davies, showing the crucifixion.

The gig house or bier house and stable which stands to the south-east of the church is not of special architectural or historic interest and is not included in the listing..

Sources

Books and journals
Colvin, H, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1995), 1045
Pevsner, N, Newman, J, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (2006), 243

End of official list entry

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