View source for St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox church | name = St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich| fullname = | image = Middlewich_-_St_Michaels2.jpg| imagesize = | caption = St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich, from the southeast | pushpin map = Cheshire| pushpin map alt = | pushpin mapsize = 250 | pushpin label position = | map caption =Location in Cheshire | location = [[Middlewich]], [[Cheshire]]| country = England  | coordinates = {{coord|53.1926|-2.4446|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}} | osgraw = SJ 703 662 | denomination = [[Anglican]] | churchmanship = | membership = | attendance = | website = [http://middlewichparishchurch.org.uk/index.html St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich] | former name = | bull date = | founded date = | founder = | dedication = [[Michael (archangel)|St Michael and All Angels]]| dedicated date = | consecrated date = | cult = | relics = | events = | past bishop = | people = | status = [[Parish church]]| functional status = Active| heritage designation = Grade II*| designated date = 5 December 1986| architect = | architectural type = [[Church (building)|Church]]| style = [[Norman architecture|Norman]], [[English Gothic architecture#Perpendicular Gothic|Perpendicular]]| groundbreaking = | completed date = | construction cost = | closed date = | demolished date = | capacity = | length = | width = | width nave = | height = | diameter = | other dimensions = | floor count = | floor area = | spire quantity = | spire height = | materials = Red [[sandstone]]| parish = | deanery = Middlewich| archdeaconry = Chester| diocese = [[Diocese of Chester|Chester]]| province = [[Province of York|York]]|  rector = Rev Simon Drew| vicar = | curate = Rev Liz Woode, Rev Thia Hughes, Rev Lorraine Reed| priest = | asstpriest = | minister = | assistant = | honpriest = | deacon = | seniorpastor = | pastor = | abbot = | chaplain = | reader = Steve Broadfoot, Christine Hamill-Stewart, Tony Woode| organistdom = | director =Jeremy Coles | organist = | organscholar = | chapterclerk = | laychapter = | warden = Elaine Reynolds, Graham Ikin, Keith Yearley, Chris Coney| flowerguild = | musicgroup = | parishadmin = Beth Deakin| serversguild = | logo = | logosize = }}

'''St. Michael and All Angels''' is the [[parish]] [[church (building)|church]] for the town of [[Middlewich]] in [[Cheshire]], England. It stands at the junction of the [[A54 road|A54]] and [[A533 road]]s.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=370350&y=366250&z=0&sv=SJ703662&st=5&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf| title = Middlewich| access-date = 17 January 2011| publisher = Streetmap}}</ref>  The church is recorded in the [[National Heritage List for England]] as a designated Grade&nbsp;II* [[Listed building#England and Wales|listed building]].<ref name="images">{{NHLE |num= 1138795|desc= Church of St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich|access-date=5 August 2012|mode=cs2}}</ref>  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 the Evangelist's Church, Byley|St&nbsp;John, Byley]].<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.achurchnearyou.com/middlewich-st-michael-all-angels/| title = St Michael & All Angels, Middlewich| access-date = 17 January 2011| publisher = [[Church of England]]}}</ref>  In 1947 the architectural historian Raymond Richards described the church as "the one building, in a depressing town, which is mellow and dignified".<ref name="richards"/>

==History==
Parts of the church date from the 12th&nbsp;century, possibly the lower portion of the tower, but more likely the narrow arcade of the east bay.<ref name=Lawrence>{{citation |title=History of Middlewich|author=Charles Frederick Lawrence|author-link=Charles Frederick Lawrence|publisher=Eachus and Son, [[Sandbach]]|year=1895}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-ch-middl.html |title=St. Michael and All Angels, Middlewich |access-date=13 June 2010 |publisher=The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728193410/http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-ch-middl.html |archive-date=28 July 2012 }}</ref>  Most of the church was built during the period between about 1480 and 1520<ref name="salter">{{citation  | last =Salter | first =Mark | title =The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire | publisher =Folly Publications | year =1995 | location =Malvern  | page =52 | isbn =1-871731-23-2 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="richards"/>  The church was damaged during the [[English Civil War]], particularly during the [[First Battle of Middlewich]] in March 1643, when the [[Cavaliers|Royalists]] used it as a place of sanctuary.<ref name="richards"/>  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]].<ref name=Lawrence/>  In 1857–60 the north aisle and Kinderton chapel were remodelled by Joseph Clarke.<ref name="salter"/>  This was a part of a [[Victorian restoration|general remodelling]] of the church, which included removing the [[whitewash]] from the interior of the church to reveal the [[sandstone]] appearance seen today.<ref name="church"/>

==Architecture==
===Exterior===
The church is built of sandstone and is mainly [[English Gothic architecture#Perpendicular Gothic|Perpendicular]] in style.<ref name="richards">{{citation  | last =Richards | first =Raymond | title =Old Cheshire Churches | publisher =B. T Batsford | year =1947 | location =London | pages =234–237 }}</ref> The plan of the church consists of a tower at the northwest, a four-[[bay (architecture)|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&nbsp;century, and at the east end of the south aisle is a chapel which was formerly a Lady chapel.<ref name="salter"/>

===Interior===
The timber roof of the chancel was originally  built by [[Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet|Sir William Brereton]] in 1621.  This was replaced in 1951 with a design copying the original.<ref name="church">{{citation |url=http://middlewichparishchurch.org.uk/page4.html |title=About the Church |access-date=3 October 2007 |publisher=St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208071635/http://www.middlewichparishchurch.org.uk/page4.html |archive-date=8 December 2004 }}</ref>  The Kinderton Chapel (also known as the Bostock Chapel) is now used as the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector's]] [[vestry]], and it contains the oldest monument in the church, a [[Monumental brass|brass]] dated 1591 in memory of Elizabeth Venables, wife of Baron Kinderton.  A [[Jacobean architecture|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.<ref name="church"/>  The organ was built in 1908 by Conacher and radically rebuilt in 1964 by [[Rushworth and Dreaper]].<ref>{{National Pipe Organ Register|id=N04308|mode=cs2|access-date=1 July 2020}}</ref>  There is a [[ring of bells|ring]] of eight bells.  Three of these were cast in 1711 by [[Rudhall of Gloucester]], one bell was cast in 1841 by Thomas Mears&nbsp;II at the [[Whitechapel Bell Foundry]], and the other four are dated 1897 by [[Taylors Eayre & Smith Ltd|John Taylor and Company]].<ref>{{citation  |url= http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=middlewich&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=MIDDLEWICH |title= Middlewich S Michael |access-date=11 August 2008 |publisher= [[Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers]] }}</ref> The [[parish register]]s begin in 1604 and the [[churchwarden]]s' accounts in 1636.<ref name="richards"/>

==External features==
In the churchyard is a [[sundial]] probably dating from the late 18th&nbsp;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&nbsp;II listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1229502|desc= Sundial south of west bay of Church of St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich|access-date=5 August 2012|mode=cs2|fewer-links=x}}</ref>

==Priests and Vicars of Middlewich==
{| cellpadding="2"
|-
!colspan="8" align="center"|'''Priests'''
|-
|~1200||Warin||&nbsp;||1342||John de Leysthorp||&nbsp;||1429||Thomas Thikenes
|-
|~1250||Thomas||&nbsp;||1349||John Bele||&nbsp;||1459||John Heynes
|-
|1306||Richard Tuchet||&nbsp;||1352||John Folvill||&nbsp;||1484||John Bressnel
|-
|1329||John de Offord||&nbsp;||1361||Thomas Fraunceys||&nbsp;||1494||William Sutheworthe
|-
|1330||Andrew de Offord||&nbsp;||1402||John Tochet
|-
!colspan="8" align="center"|'''Vicars'''
|-
|1504||William Bithewaithe||&nbsp;||1695||William Handford||&nbsp;||1877||Francis Minton
|-
|1504||John Fornebye||&nbsp;||1702||John Cowper||&nbsp;||1902||Hesketh France Hayhurst
|-
|1525||Amerus Burdet||&nbsp;||1719||John Cartwright||&nbsp;||1904||Arthur Gascoigne Child
|-
|1563||John Knightley||&nbsp;||1731||John Swinton||&nbsp;||1921||Wilfrid Rawton Ingham
|-
|1568||Peter Presland||&nbsp;||1737||Robert Moreton||&nbsp;||1937||Albert William Harrison-Harlow MC
|-
|1580||William Kinsey||&nbsp;||1780||William Kyffin||&nbsp;||1947||George Richardson Kemp
|-
|1616||Robert Halliley||&nbsp;||1787||Joshua Powell||&nbsp;||1952||Leslie Edgar Evans
|-
|1646||Thomas Langley<sup>*</sup>||&nbsp;||1797||William Henry Heron||&nbsp;||1957||Laurence Roy Ridley
|-
|1647||Matthew Clayton<sup>*</sup>||&nbsp;||1811||James Stringer||&nbsp;||1969||Eric Alexander Owen
|-
|1662||Lawrence Griffith||&nbsp;||1819||Isaac Wood||&nbsp;||1971||Eric William Cox<ref name=RICHARDS>{{citation  | first=Raymond | last=Richards |  title=Old Cheshire Churches: A Survey of their History, Fabric and Furniture with Records of the Older Monuments | year=1971}}</ref>
|-
|1680||Thomas Faulkner||&nbsp;||1864||Henry Goodwin||&nbsp;
|-
|}
<sup>*</sup>denotes joint ministers

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Middlewich - St Michaels Altar.jpg|The main altar
Image:Middlewich - St Michaels Venables screen.jpg|The Venables screen
Image:Middlewich - St Michaels Interior full church.jpg|Interior of the church
Image:Middlewich - St Michaels South altar closeup.jpg|Closeup view of the South Altar
Image:Middlewich - St Michaels South altar distant view.jpg|Distant view of the South Altar
Image:Middlewich - St Michaels Carving detail.jpg|Detail of carving on one of the pillars
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Cheshire}}
*[[Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire East]]
*[[Listed buildings in Middlewich]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category|St Michael and All Angels church, Middlewich}}
*[http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/middlewich.html Photographs by Craig Thornber]

{{Churches in Cheshire}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middlewich, St Michael and All Angels Church}}
[[Category:Church of England church buildings in Cheshire]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed churches in Cheshire]]
[[Category:English churches with Norman architecture]]
[[Category:English Gothic architecture in Cheshire]]
[[Category:Middlewich]]
[[Category:Diocese of Chester]]