Description

HOBY WITH BROOKSBY ROAD
SK 61 NE ROTHERBY Brooksby
Church of St Michael
1/279 1.1.68

GV II*

Church. Tower begun early C14 completed C15. Body of church early C16. Restored and spire rebuilt 1874 by R W Johnson. SW nave window inserted 1911. Uncoursed random stone rubble with limestone dressings, portions of old render. Ironstone ashlar to E and S walls. Slate roof, Swithland slate to S slope. Nave and chancel in one, N and S porches, W tower. 4-light E window with straight head, hollow-chamfered mullions and round- arched heads to lights and hood mould. Similar 3-light window to SE and similar 2-light windows either side of S porch. C15/early C16 oak S door of massive plank construction with ribs, original hinges and pattern of interlocking cusped ogee arches to head. Hollow-chamfered doorway, trefoiled spandrels and rectangular hollow- chamfered surround. Shallow, gabled porch of ironstone with round-arched head to doorway. 4-light hollow-chamfered stone mullion and transon window to N with king mullion and cusping to straight-headed lights. C15/early C16 ribbed plank door with original hinges. Hollow-chamfered doorway with trefoiled spandrels and hood mould in shallow gabled porch with chamfered Tudor-arched doorway.

2-stage tower has 2-light W window to bottom stage with reticulated tracery and hood mould. Canted stair turret projection to SE corner. 2-light bell-chamber openings with cinquefoil-headed lights, quatrefoils to heads and hood moulds; tracery missing to N. Frieze of alternating cusped triangles and quatrefoils to base of battlemented parapet Which has gargoyles to angles. Crocketed spire with 2 tiers of gabled lucarnes in alternating directions. Offset buttresses to W angles with crocketed gables to second offset, that to left with ball-flower dividing gable, that to right with blank cusped tracery. Diagonal off-set buttresses to chancel. Body of church has battlemented parapet with cross slits and frieze of shields in quatrefoils to base. Stone-coped E gable set behind parapet.

Interior: Fine C19 hammerbeam roof with half bays either end. Complete set of C19 fittings. Chequered red and black tile floors. Wave-moulded doorway to stair turret to left of tower arch, which has polygonal responds, within continuous chamfer and wave moulding outermost. Jacobean-style communion table. Series of stain-glass shields to east and south windows showing alliances of the Villiers family in the seventeenth century. Union Flag from Admiral Beatty’s flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth, flown while Beatty received the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of the First World War.

Monuments: Large incised alabaster slab in sanctuary commemorating Sir William Villiers d.1480 and his wife Joan and second wife Agnas. Large wall monument in chancel to Sir William Villiers d.1711 and his wife Dame Ann Villiers. Black marble plinth, veined grey marble architectural background with Corinthian pilasters and two round-headed arches against which stand life-size figures of Sir William in contemporary dress and his wife in classical-style drapery. 2 winged cherubs heads to spandrels of arches behind their heads. Pilasters have statuary marble capitals and support entablature with urns flanking cartouche of arms; arms and figurative details all of statuary marble. Large marble wall plaque with a central pedimented oval and side panels with Corinthian pilasters, ornamented with Admiral Beatty’s coat of arms, commemorating a group of 8 sailors who died at the Battle of Jutland (31 May -1 June 1916).   Bronze bust signed Ferdinand Forbes and dated 1938 of Admiral Lord Beatty d.1936.  

Listing NGR: SK6709716004

The entry was enhanced in 2016 as part of the Battle of Jutland centenary commemorations.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Michael at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17541807

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 History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback