Description

COTLEIGH COTLEIGH
ST 20 SW
11/6 Church of St Michael
22.2.55
GV II*
Parish church. C15 and early C16, restored with rebuilt chancel in 1867. Local
stone and flint rubble with Beerstone and some Hamstone detail, the tower is partly
plastered; slate roof.
Plan: nave with lower and narrower chancel. North aisle is not quite full length
and the north chapel is now used as a vestry. West tower and south porch. Most of
the exterior detail has been replaced and therefore it is difficult to work out the
development of the church. However the nave is probably C15. The chancel is a
complete rebuild of 1867. The north aisle and west tower may be contemporary and
early C16. The south porch is C19.
Exterior: the tower is 2 stages with embattled parapet, carved gargoyle water
spouts, diagonal buttresses and a semi-octagonal stair turret on the south side.
The southern belfry window is a square-headed 2-light window whilst the other belfry
windows are 2 lights with Perpendicular tracery. On the west side of the tower is a
Tudor arch doorway with moulded surround, carved foliage in the spandrels and a
hoodmould carried up from the moulded plinth. Directly above is a 3-light window
with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould.
The gable ends of the porch, nave, chancel and aisle have C19 shaped kneelers and
coping and most have apex crosses. The south side of the nave is 3 bays and
unbuttressed with the disused rood stair turret projecting square at the right end.
In the centre is the gabled C19 porch which contains a 2-centred outer arch with
hollow-chamfered surround and hoodmould. The south doorway is C19; a segmental
pointed arch with hollow-chamfered surround. Each side of the porch are square-
headed 3-light windows with Tudor arch-headed lights and sunken spandrels; there are
2 similar windows on the north side of the aisle and between them a blocked Tudor
arch doorway similar to that in the tower. Each end of the aisle are arch-headed
windows; the west one is blocked and the east one contains C19 Decorated reticulated
tracery. The chancel is wholly C19 and the windows here also have Decorated
reticulated tracery.
Interior: the nave has a good C15 ceiled wagon roof of 6 bays with moulded ribs and
purlins, carved oak bosses and a coved wall plate enriched with 4-leaf motifs and
shields under each main truss. The main aisle ceiled wagon roof looks similar but
here there is an embattled wall plate and the bosses have been replaced with square
blocks. The chancel has a C19 open roof of scissor-braced common rafter trusses.
The tall tower arch and the chancel arch both have moulded surrounds. 4-bay
Beerstone arcade with 1 bay overlapping the chancel; moulded piers (Pevsner's type
B) with carved foliage capitals. Behind the pulpit (soutn side of the nave) is a
tiny 2-centred arch doorway to the disused rood stair. The walls are plastered and
the floor is parquet blocks.
1867 Beerstone reredos; a Gothic blind arcade. Contemporary brass altar rail on
twisted standards, plain oak stalls with a little Gothic decoration, oak prayer
desk, pulpit and lectern. Plain C19 oak benches. C20 tower screen. Restored C15
Beerstone front has a delightfully-carved bowl of various designs, mostly
geometrical (eg. quatrefoil panels) but one features a carved dove. Cylindrical
shaft and angle shafts with carved capitals.
No memorials except for one in memory of the dead of First World War and an ancient
coffin stone now set against the south wall. However there are a series of similar
painted boards, one dated 1716 and all feature winged cherubs heads. Over the south
door one records "The Lawyers Gospell" from Matthew 22.37 and in the north aisle are
commandment boards. Also in the north aisle a benefaction board is dated 1826.
Painted royal arms is C20. Some C19 stained glass.

Listing NGR: ST2063602209

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546793

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)