St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich

St. Michael and All Angels is the parish church for the town of Middlewich in Cheshire, England. It stands at the junction of the A54 and A533 roads.[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[2] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Middlewich. Its benefice is combined with that of St John, Byley.[3] In 1947 the architectural historian Raymond Richards described the church as "the one building, in a depressing town, which is mellow and dignified".[4]

St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich
St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich, from the southeast
St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich Location in Cheshire
OS grid reference	SJ 703 662
Location	Middlewich, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	St Michael and All Angels
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	5 December 1986
Architectural type	Church
Style	Norman, Perpendicular
Specifications
Materials	Red sandstone
Administration
Deanery	Middlewich
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Rector	Rev Simon Drew
Curate(s)	Rev Liz Woode, Rev Thia Hughes, Rev Lorraine Reed
Laity
Reader(s)	Jacqui Briscoe, Steve Broadfoot, Christine Hamill-Stewart, Tony Woode
Director of music	Jeremy Coles
Churchwarden(s)	Elaine Reynolds, Graham Ikin, Keith Yearley
Parish administrator	Beth Deakin

History

Parts of the church date from the 12th century, possibly the lower portion of the tower, but more likely the narrow arcade of the east bay.[5][6] Most of the church was built during the period between about 1480 and 1520[7] when the nave clerestory was added, new windows were inserted, the Lady chapel was built at the east end of the south aisle and a two-storey porch was added to the south side. In the following century the Kinderton chapel was added at the east end of the north aisle.[4] The church was damaged during the Civil War, particularly during the First Battle of Middlewich in March 1643, when the Royalists used it as a place of sanctuary.[4] In 1801 restorations were carried out, including moving the Venables screen into the tower. In 1857 a window was added to the memory of John Hulse.[5] In 1857–60 the north aisle and Kinderton chapel were remodelled by Joseph Clarke.[7] This was a part of a general remodelling of the church, which included removing the whitewash from the interior of the church to reveal the sandstone appearance seen today.[8]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built of sandstone and is mainly Perpendicular in style.[4] The plan of the church consists of a tower at the northwest, a four-bay nave with a clerestory, broad north and south aisles, a two-bay chancel and a south porch. At the east end of the north aisle is the Kinderton chapel, built in the 16th century, and at the east end of the south aisle is a chapel which was formerly a Lady chapel.[7]

Interior

The timber roof of the chancel was originally built by Sir William Brereton in 1621. This was replaced in 1951 with a design copying the original.[8] The Kinderton Chapel (also known as the Bostock Chapel) is now used as the rector's vestry, and it contains the oldest monument in the church, a brass dated 1591 in memory of Elizabeth Venables, wife of Baron Kinderton. A Jacobean screen with the carved arms of the Venables family was originally at the entrance to the Kinderton chapel but is now inside the tower.[8] The organ was built in 1908 by Conacher and radically rebuilt in 1964 by Rushworth and Dreaper.[9] There is a ring of eight bells. Three of these were cast in 1711 by Rudhall of Gloucester, one bell was cast in 1841 by Thomas Mears II at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and the other four are dated 1897 by John Taylor and Company.[10] The parish registers begin in 1604 and the churchwardens' accounts in 1636.[4]

External features

In the churchyard is a sundial probably dating from the late 18th century. It consists of a vase baluster on a circular stone step on brick base. The copper dial has a date which is illegible and the gnomon is broken. It is designated as a Grade II listed building.[11]

Priests and Vicars of Middlewich

Priests
~1200	Warin		1342	John de Leysthorp		1429	Thomas Thikenes
~1250	Thomas		1349	John Bele		1459	John Heynes
1306	Richard Tuchet		1352	John Folvill		1484	John Bressnel
1329	John de Offord		1361	Thomas Fraunceys		1494	William Sutheworthe
1330	Andrew de Offord		1402	John Tochet
Vicars
1504	William Bithewaithe		1695	William Handford		1877	Francis Minton
1504	John Fornebye		1702	John Cowper		1902	Hesketh France Hayhurst
1525	Amerus Burdet		1719	John Cartwright		1904	Arthur Gascoigne Child
1563	John Knightley		1731	John Swinton		1921	Wilfrid Rawton Ingham
1568	Peter Presland		1737	Robert Moreton		1937	Albert William Harrison-Harlow MC
1580	William Kinsey		1780	William Kyffin		1947	George Richardson Kemp
1616	Robert Halliley		1787	Joshua Powell		1952	Leslie Edgar Evans
1646	Thomas Langley^*		1797	William Henry Heron		1957	Laurence Roy Ridley
1647	Matthew Clayton^*		1811	James Stringer		1969	Eric Alexander Owen
1662	Lawrence Griffith		1819	Isaac Wood		1971	Eric William Cox[12]
1680	Thomas Faulkner		1864	Henry Goodwin

^*denotes joint ministers

Gallery

• 
  The main altar
• 
  The Venables screen
• 
  Interior of the church
• 
  Closeup view of the South Altar
• 
  Distant view of the South Altar
• 
  Detail of carving on one of the pillars

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire East
• Listed buildings in Middlewich

References

1. Middlewich, Streetmap, retrieved 17 January 2011
2. Historic England, "Church of St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich (1138795)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2012
3. St Michael & All Angels, Middlewich, Church of England, retrieved 17 January 2011
4. Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: B. T Batsford, pp. 234–237
5. Charles Frederick Lawrence (1895), History of Middlewich, Eachus and Son, Sandbach
6. St. Michael and All Angels, Middlewich, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, archived from the original on 28 July 2012, retrieved 13 June 2010
7. Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, p. 52, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
8. About the Church, St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich, archived from the original on 8 December 2004, retrieved 3 October 2007
9. "NPOR N04308", National Pipe Organ Register, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 1 July 2020
10. Middlewich S Michael, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, retrieved 11 August 2008
11. Historic England, "Sundial south of west bay of Church of St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich (1229502)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2012
12. Richards, Raymond (1971), Old Cheshire Churches: A Survey of their History, Fabric and Furniture with Records of the Older Monuments

External links

• Photographs by Craig Thornber