Description

SEAVINGTON ST MICHAEL CP CHURCH LANE (East side)
ST41SW
5/83 Church of St Michael
4.2.58

GV II*

Anglican parish church. Late C12, possibly refenestrated, porched c1291; C15 alterations, gallery of c1800, vestry
1858, reseating of 1899. Ham stone rubble, ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof between stepped coped gables, with low
parapet to nave. Two-cell plan of single-bay chancel, 3-bay nave, with north porch, south-east vestry and western bell
turret. Chancel has no plinth, but clasping corner buttresses without offsets; 2-light east window, C14 tracery under
pointed-arched plain-stopped label; north wall has 2-light flat-arched C15 windows, trefoil-cusped lights with incised
spandrils, all set in hollow rectangular recess with deep square plain-stopped label; on south side the leanto vestry,
with similar flat-arched window but not in a recess, in the east wall. Nave has corner buttresses to half-height, and
added bay buttresses on south side to full height; centre bay on south side has a blocked chamfered pointed-arched
doorway, with diamond-leaded window inserted with cill just below springing; on either side a 2-light C15 early
Perpendicular traceried window, no recesses, plain-stepped labels; similar windows on north wall, but the north-east is
3-light with square-stop label; west window also 3-light C15, with pointed-arched square-stopped label, below being a
small buttress and above a semi-circular arched plain window to serve the gallery. Crowning west wall is the bell
turret; simple ashlar west gable with arched openings for 2 bells, and to east a Welsh slate-clad casing: until the
1770s a stone tower is mentioned, but in 1822 a wooden turret with 3 bells is described - either or both may refer to
this structure. North porch has chamfered plinth, ball finial to north gable; 2-order moulded pointed outer arch and
simple pointed inner arch; bench seats, segmental barrel vault ceiling. Interior mostly C19 reshaping: chancel very
plain, with C19 scissor-truss roof; trefoil-cusped piscina in south wall of sanctuary; double-panelled chancel arch to
almost full width. Nave has segmental plaster barel vault of 1825, with gallery at west end; another piscina,
cinquefoil cusped, in south wall, and near chancel arch four later C14 corbel brackets for rood loft or lenten veil,
two having carved heads. Choirstalls removed: fittings in chancel of C19 and C20; likewise in nave except for a
circular tub font on rectangular base, probably C12/C13, with late C18 cover. Charles II hatchment over north door: in
chancel the effigy of a man, c1280-90, possibly Adam le Denys, Lord of the Manor of Seavington St Denys, d.1284. Two
fragments of early medieval glass in tracery of south-west nave window, and C18 glass panel in west window. First
mention of church in 1226, first recorded rector 1297. (Pevsner N, Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, 1958;
VCH, Vol III, 1974; Greenwood, C and J, Somerset Delineated, 1822).

Listing NGR: ST4101514951

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Michael at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17553878

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5