Description

CUDWORTH CP
ST31SE
2/20 Church of St Michael

4.2.58

GV II

Anglican parish church. C12 origins, with north doorway and one small window of that period. C13 nave and chancel with
C14 and C15 modifications. Local lias stone rubble with Ham stone ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roofs between stepped
ccoed gables: west bell turret. Three-cell plan of 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave and north aisle. Chancel has plinth,
angled corner buttresses and 2 full-height buttresses on north side, but none on south: the east window a 3 light 'Y'
tracary window of C14 under arched headstop label; the east window of south wall a 2-light of early Geometric tracery
in slightly hollowed recess without label, and to west a C19 single lancet; in north wall a C14 traceried 2-light
window under arched headstop label to east, and single lancet to west; possibly C19. Nave has buttresses to south-west
corners, and two towards extremities of south wall; the windows in that wall both 3-light, the eastern in deep hollowed
recess with very early Perpendicular tracery, the west having later Perpendicular tracery and set in shallower recess
under arched headstop label; between these a blocked chamfered segmental-pointed arched doorway with former statue
niche over, above this being the water tabling for a previous proch: in the west nave wall a C19 doorway in rectangular
recess without label, above which is a 3-light C15 pattern traceried window in deep hollowed recess - the whole of this
wall apparently a C19 rebui1d: the bell turret has a pitched stone roof and pointed-arched apertures for 2 bells, both
of C17 date. North aisle has lancet windows - on north wall a pair towards east end, then a single cusped lancet and a
plain lancet flanking a C12 doorway having single sideshafts, roll-and-recess moulded arch with label: the tympanum
mostly plain but incorporating some stones with acanthus-type decoration: in east wall a 3-light almost
Curvilinear-traceried window in slight recess, under which is a very small C12 window apparently with round-headed
recess internally west wall plain. Interior not accessible, but reported is the low 3-bay arcade of irregular spans of
octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches; no chancel arch but traces of a C16 rood screen: nave ceiling opened out
and new roof to aisle in 1904; C20 carvings in chancel. Fittings include large early C13 font with dog-tooth and
cable-mould decoration: Jacobean pulpit; fragments of pre-Reformation altar top and a carved and painted statue niche:
mutilated C13 tomb top. Inscribed memorial to Sarah Smyth d 1684. Fragments of medieval glass in east window of north
aisle. First mention of church cl186-88. (Pevsner N, Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, l958: VCH Somerset,
Vol IV, l978, pp146-7).

Listing NGR: ST3731310870

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Michael at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17554966

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)