Description

ST5312 EAST COKER CP

11/91 Church of Saint Michael

19.4.61

GV II*

Church. Late C12 with C15 and C19 work. Ham stone squared rubble with ashlar; fish-scale and plain clay tile roofs to
nave, chancel and North Transept, stone slates to South transept and lead over aisles. A cruciform church with added
side aisles and North porch; central tower unsafe and replaced in 1790 by North East corner tower; chancel 2-bays
nominal, nave 3-bays plus crossing, aisles 3-bays, transepts one long bay. Chancel has offset corner buttresses,
plinth and cross finial to coping; East window a C19 copy of former blocked C15 window, four-light traceried under
pointed arch with pointed label; 3-light windows in 4 centred recessed arches to North and South sides. South transept
simple; C15 tranceried 3-light window in pointed arch recess in South wall; a 2-light C18 window in East wall. South
aisle has plinth, full height offset buttresses, plain parapet; three 3-light C15 traceried windows under pointed
labels. North aisle similar, except that the parapet is crenellated; in centre bay the simple porch with moulded
pointed archways. North transept projects only very slightly; the window matches that of South aisle. West end has
plain moulded pointed arch doorway with C19 trancery above; C15 tranceried windows in pointed recessed arches to
aisles, with label to North aisle; angled corner buttresses to aisles, nave projects slightly. Tower in 3-stages, of
1790 date; offset corner buttresses to top of second stage, octagonal stair turret on South East corner taller than
rest of tower; tall plinth, string courses, simple open arcaded balustrade with small pinnacles to corners; lowest
stage has small pointed East doorway and 3-light pointed window with double 'Y' tracery; second stage 2-light pointed
window with 'Y' tracery on North face only; third stage similar window with baffles to East, blind window to West and
on North face clock dial flanked by single-light round arched windows with baffles. Internally chancel has timber
ribbed and bossed barrel vault ceiling; remainder seems C19 rebuild; wide pointed arch to crosing. Semi-circular
arches with classical imposts to transepts; South transept has plaster barrel vault ceiling with stone cornice, and
cill height panelling in box pews of 1790; coffer panelled C16 arch into South aisle; old heraldic glass in tracery of
South window; North transept similar, without panelling and pews; the North window probably of C19 and set much lower,
ribbed plaster vault with hipped end and stone cornice. The South aisle has a late C13 arcade with circular columns,
pointed arches; North aisle has C15 arcade with 4-hollow piers, the entrance door probably C15 with external tracery
decoration, and over is a 1690 hatchment board. C13 circular font with cable mould on modern base. Two recumbent
effigies; that in South transept much damaged, but effigy of Lady Elizabeth Courtenay, died 1375 on West wall in better
state. Also on the West wall the memorial tablet to T S Elliot, poet and writer, whose ashes were interred in 1965.

Listing NGR: ST5388312190

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of Saint Michael at Wikipedia
• Church of Saint Michael official website
• Wikidata Q17554772

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

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990