Description

SOUTH ELMHAM, ST. MICHAEL ST. MICHAEL'S GREEN
TM 38 SW

4/77 Church of St. Michael
1.9.53

GV I

Parish church. C12, C13 and later. Nave, chancel, south porch and west
tower. Random flint, with freestone quoins and dressings; old render and
pantiled roofs to nave and chancel, plaintiles to porch. Y-tracery windows to
nave and to south side of chancel; no window to north side of chancel. 3-
light east window with intersecting tracery. Pointed C13 priest's door with
continuous moulding; blocked north doorway. Unbuttressed C13 west tower in 4
stages: a Y-tracery west window to the lowest stage, and plain single-light
windows to all faces of the top stage, that on the east blocked; string-course
between the 3rd and 4th stages; fine stepped embattled parapet with ornate
flushwork panels. Early C16 timber porch, rendered externally: shallow 4-
centred arch to doorway, cambered roll-moulded tie-beam and cavetto-moulded
arched braces with shafts to the internal truss; 2 blocked windows with
moulded jambs; roof with moulded ridge-piece and purlins and embattled
wallplates. Norman south doorway with one order of colonettes, one enriched
cushion capital and one volute capital, and abaci with nailhead ornament;
roll-moulded arch, and an outer arch of doubled lunettes with a surround of
billet moulding. Interior with the remains of an arched-braced timber chancel
arch. Simple nave, with C19 boarding covering most of roof; C15 font with
octagonal bowl, panels with seated lions alternating with angels bearing
various shields, and a square shaft, with a seated lion at each of the
chamfered-off angles. Simple panelled Jacobean pulpit; lectern made of re-
used panelling. C19 benches, the first 4 pairs in an earlier style than the
rest with some reused components, as are also the choir stalls in the chancel.
A high recess in the south wall of the chancel; a piscina in the south-east
corner with a continuous moulding round its pointed arch. Roof in 4 bays:
arched brace and tie-beam construction with tie-beams removed, braces cut
back, and common rafters boarded over in C19. Old brick floors throughout
nave and chancel. A sundial set into the south wall of the nave has the
inscriptions 'Why stand gazing' and 'Go about your business' above the dial,
and 'I only tell the sunlit hours' below.

Listing NGR: TM3414783943

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527450

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
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  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)