St Michael's Church, Shotwick

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St Michael's Church, Shotwick
St Michael's Church, Shotwick 2.JPG
St Michael's Church seen from south-southeast
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St Michael's Church, Shotwick
Location in Cheshire
53°14′20″N2°59′42″W / 53.2388°N 2.9951°W / 53.2388; -2.9951
OS grid reference SJ336717
Location Shotwick, Cheshire
CountryEngland
Denomination Church of England
Website St Michael's Church Shotwick
History
Status Parish church
Dedication St Michael
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Heritage designation Grade I
Designated1 June 1967
Architectural type Church
Style Norman, Gothic
Specifications
Materials New Red Sandstone
Roof of Welsh slate and tiles
Administration
Province York
Diocese Chester
Archdeaconry Chester
Deanery Wirral South
Parish Shotwick
Clergy
Vicar(s) Cathy Helm

St Michael's Church is the Church of England parish church of Shotwick, Cheshire, England. It a Grade I listed building. [1] It has a Norman doorway but most of the church is Gothic. Its furniture includes some ancient items. In the churchyard are several structures that are Grade II listed. The church is an active parish church in the Diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Wirral South. Its benefice is combined with that of St Nicholas, Burton. [2]

Contents

History

A church was in existence at the time of the Domesday Book and was largely rebuilt in the 14th century. [3] Restorations were carried out in 1851 [1] and in the 1970s. [4] The parish registers date from 1698. [3]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built of New Red Sandstone. The chancel and porch are roofed with Welsh slate and the rest of the roof is covered in purple tiles. [1] The south doorway is Norman, decorated with chevrons but rather obscured by a porch of later date. [3] [5] The porch contains stone benches and on its walls are knife-sharpening slots. [1] The tower is Perpendicular in style, [3] and dates from around 1500. [5] The plan of the church consists of a tower at the west end in line with a nave of four bays and a chancel of three bays. There is a north aisle with a chapel at the west end extending as far as the chancel. [6]

Interior

All the pews are box pews [1] and are the oldest in Wirral; at one time their doors were fitted with locks and keys. [3] In the north aisle is a canopied churchwardens' pew dated 1709 and a three-decker pulpit. The altar rails date from the late 17th or early 18th century and the lectern from the late 18th century. [3] It has been said that much of this wooden furniture was moved from a church in Chester in 1812. [6] Some of the windows contain 14th-century stained glass. [1] [7] The brass chandelier dates from the late 18th century. [8]

The tower has a ring of six bells. William Clibury of Wellington, Shropshire, cast the tenor bell in 1616 and the fifth bell in 1621. John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast the other four bells including the treble in 1938. [9]

External features

In the churchyard the gates, gatepiers and churchyard wall along north side of Shotwick Lane are Grade II listed structures. [10] Also listed Grade II are the red sandstone sundial consisting of a tall bulbous baluster on square base dated 1720, [11] and the tombchests of James Phillips, [12] John Nevett Bennett, [13] Rev M. Reay and four children, [14] Robert and Martha Ellison, [15] William Briscoe (died 1704) and others, [16] and William Briscoe (died 1723) and others. [17] In the northwest part of the churchyard are the war graves of nine Royal Air Force officers of World War I. [18]

See also

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Shotwick is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Puddington, in Cheshire West and Chester, England. It contains 23 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest grade, two are listed at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II. Apart from the village of Shotwick, the parish is entirely rural. Most of the listed buildings are in the village, and include houses, St Michael's Church and structures in the churchyard, and Shotwick Hall with associated structures. Outside the village, the listed buildings are domestic or related to farming.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Historic England. "Church of St Michael (Grade I) (1145903)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  2. Archbishops' Council. "St Michael, Shotwick". A Church Near You . Church of England . Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Richards, Raymond (1947). Old Cheshire Churches. London: Batsford. pp. 296–303. OCLC   719918.
  4. Thornber, Craig (2005). "Shotwick". A Scrapbook of Cheshire Antiquities. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
  5. 1 2 "St Michael, Shotwick, Cheshire". Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  6. 1 2 Salter, Mark (1995). The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire. Malvern: Folly Publications. pp. 68–69. ISBN   1-871731-23-2.
  7. "Shotwick, St Michael". Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  8. Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971]. Cheshire. The Buildings of England. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. p. 583. ISBN   978-0-300-17043-6.
  9. Birks, Gordon (10 October 2010). "Shotwick S Michael". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers . Central Council of Church Bell Ringers . Retrieved 11 August 2008.
  10. Historic England. "Gates, gatepiers and churchyard wall along north side of Shotwick Lane (1130550)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  11. Historic England. "Sundial in the churchyard of St Michael (1145912)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  12. Historic England. "Tombchest of James Phillips, 2 metres south of the sundial in the Churchyard of St Michael (1130548)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  13. Historic England. "Tombchest of John Nevett Bennett, 5 metres west of south porch of St Michael's Church (1330309)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  14. Historic England. "Tombchest of Rev M Reay and 4 children, 8 metres south of south porch of Church of St Michael (1318880)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  15. Historic England. "Tombchest of Robert And Martha Ellison, 10 metres southwest of south corner of tower of Church of St Michael (1130549)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  16. Historic England. "Tombchest of William Briscoe (died 1704) and others, 5 metres southwest of priest's door to St Michael's Church (1145909)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  17. Historic England. "Tombchest of William Briscoe (died 1723) and others, 4 metres west of priest's door to St Michael's Church (1130547)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  18. "Shotwick (St. Michael) Churchyard". Commonwealth War Graves Commission . Retrieved 3 February 2013.

Further reading