Building record 355/1/1 - Church of St Michael

<1> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.471-2 (Book). SCH7059.

A church in the perpendicular style with battlements, pinnacles and large, crude grotesques. The nave comprises three bays and the tower stands at the western end. The chancel was added in 1822 by Sir Jeffry Wyatville (who also restored the western end of the south aisle) and restyled by Douglas and Fordham in 1891-2. The roof was also replaced and the clerestory windows restored at this time. The pulpit dates from the sixteenth century and the tower contains many painted charity boards, including a big circular one dated 1777. The church contains a gothic canopied monument to William H Poole dated 1855.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 422036 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

A sixteenth century church with a classical chancel of 1822, Gothicised by Douglas and Fordham in 1891-2 at which time the organ chamber was added. Red sandstone ashlar with a slate roof. Western tower, aisled nave, chancel and north eastern organ chamber. Perpendicular Tower: western end: diagonal buttresses with offsets. Projecting plinth with moulded top. Double doorway to ground level with double reveals and hood mould with label stops. Above is a three-light early Perpendicular window with trefoil-headed lights and chamfered reveal with hood mould and label stops. String course above carved with grotesque heads and above that a three-light louvred belfry opening with cusped lights, hood mould and label stops. Further string course with grotesque heads below the level of the battlemented parapet which has gargoyles at the corners and to the centre. The parapet has panelled piers to the corners and centre with crocketed pinnacles. North face: blank below the level of the lower string course similar to the western face above this. South face: similar save for a diamond-shaped clock board with circular clock face set below the belfry opening. Nave: north face : three bays divided by buttresses with offsets and having an angle buttress at right. Doorway with four-centred chamfered reveal to the far right. To the centre is a three-light early-Perpendicular window with trefeil-headed lights and to left of this a three-light window with plate-tracery, hood-mould and label stops. Three clerestory windows each of four lights with trefoil heads set in chamfered reveal. Above these are a moulded string course and an embattled parapet with four panelled piers with crocketed pinnacles. South face: at left is an eighteenth gabled porch with brick walling to the lower body and Yellow sandstone ashlar quoins to the corners. Red sandstone ashlar door surround and gable above, both of nineteenth century date. Inside the porch is a panelled late medieval door with coffin-nail decoration and strap hinges. To right are two bays divided by buttresses with offsets as on the north face with triple-light windows with trefoil heads to the lights. Similar clerestory to that on the north face, with parapet above. Trefoil-headed lancet light to the eastern window of the southern aisle. The chancel has a projecting organ chamber of c.1892 to the north with a three-light window of rudimentary Perpendicular form. To left of this is a two-light cusped window. The southern face has at centre a porch with central. four-centred archway and buttresses with offsets to either side and gable above with central shield. The eastern end has diagonal buttresses to either corner, a five-light window with casement-moulded surround, hood mould and shield label-stops. Interior: The nave arcades have octagonal piers with chamfered capitals and chamfered arches above. - Chamfered surrounds to the clerestory windows. Panelled roof of c.1891-2 with ovolo-moulded surrounds to the panels and some carved woodwork. Double-chamfered tower arch with wooden screen below of c.1891-2 divided by semi-octagonal posts with angel finials.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ54 NE6 (Index). SCH2487.

<4> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.225-7 (Book). SCH2309.

‘…The church of Marbury is mentioned as existing in 1299. At some unknown date it was annexed to Whitchurch and for a long time was generally considered a parochial chapel, although occasionally it was termed a parish, and its clergy rectors. In one instance the incumbent of Whitchurch is called rector of both churches. In 1870 the chapelry was severed from Whitchurch and made a perpetual curacy. Later Marbury was accounted a vicarage…’

‘…The church is…, with the exception of the chancel, solely Perpendicular in style and of the fifteenth century. It is built of red sandstone, the plan consisting of tower, nave with aisles, clerestory, a comparatively modem chancel, and south porch. The last is of brick faced with stone. The…tower…has a good west doorway, with three-light window above. The belfry windows are also of three lights....’

‘…[the] string courses, embodying in their decoration a carved array of animals and flowers. …Gargoyles are a feature of the design, and present many curious carvings…of smiling·twins, monkeys, humorous and grotesque faces…’

‘…The nave arcades consist of three low arches on either side, springing from octagonal columns…The clerestory windows are square-headed of four trefoiled lights, while those of the aisles have three-light windows with four-centred heads…Wyatt rebuilt the chancel in his own style of Gothic in the opening years of last century, and it is not surprising that it was taken down and another attempted in 1822…’

‘…Marbury possesses the second oldest wooden pulpit in Cheshire, dating from the fifteenth century, when the present church was built…The remainder of the old church furniture has been replaced with oak benches. The 1891 restoration removed the former plaster roofs, and these were renewed in carved oak…’

‘…There is a ring of six bells, five of which were cast by Rudhall of Gloucester in the eighteenth century…’

<5> AAA Archaeological Advisors, 2006, St Michael's Church, Marbury, Cheshire; Report on an Archaeological Evaluation. (Client Report). SCH4756.

‘…[The church] is on a prominent mound overlooking the…Mere to the south…its dramatic location was perhaps chosen for its dominance as a symbolic statement of the power of the Church…There is one indicator of an earlier church on this site in the form of a late twelfth century tomb cover of a knight which is propped against the eastern inside wall of the churchyard…’

<6> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.III, p.462 (Book). SCH1389.

‘…A picturesque building of red stone, grey with age handsomely finished with buttresses, battlements, and pinnacles. It consists of a tower, nave with side aisles, and chancel. The nave is divided from the side aisles by a range of pointed arches on each side, resting on short pillars with capitals. The chancel has been added to the rest of the fabric with meaner materials, and in a humbler style. (This was the work of Wyatt, at the beginning of this century, but in 1822 it was taken down, and a chancel was built in a style of architecture corresponding with the older part of the church.)…’

<7> County Historic Environment Record, Site Visit/Watching Brief Observation Report Form, Edwards R, 15/09/2020 (Unpublished Document). SCH4357.

The eastern-most window on the southern aisle has graffiti scratched into the stone work of the surround. It reads: David Jenks 1600. The four corner pinnacles of the tower appear identical, but the southern face of the pinacle on the south-eastern corner of the tower includes a face.

<8> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, Accessed 15/09/2020 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.