Weight: 588 lbs Diameter: 30" Bell 1 of 1
Founded by Thomas II Newcombe
Dove Bell ID: 61475 Tower ID: 24335 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Upton: St Michael
Overview
Grid reference: SP 717 602
The building is basically Norman (two doorways and three windows), and has never been extended. Later generations, however, inserted more and more windows and the fourteenth century added the west tower within the area of the nave. The south porch is dated 1594, but this seems to refer to thorough rebuilding rather than original work. The church was heavily restored in 1893.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave and chancel in one externally, and without a chancel arch; south porch; west tower within the west wall of the nave doorways and south chancel doorway.
Description of Archaeology and History
The building is basically Norman (two doorways and three windows), and has never been extended. Later generations, however, inserted more and more windows and the fourteenth century added the west tower within the area of the nave. The south porch is dated 1594, but this seems to refer to thorough rebuilding rather than original work. The church was heavily restored in 1893.
Exterior Description
The few surviving Norman windows suggest that the church still retains its original floor area, although the fenestration has been much added to in ensuing ages. As they now appear, the windows occupy attractively asymmetrical and irregular positions, set off by the varied texture of the wall surface, chiefly now of exposed stone rubble, but still with some areas of weathered plaster. Two Norman windows survive on the north wall, small round-headed lights, one in the chancel and one virtually at the dividing point between chancel and nave. These have been augmented by a two-light window of Perpendicular date with trefoiled lights and a moulded label set low in the chancel wall and a large three light window with transoms and ogee cinquefoiled heads to the lights in the nave wall. The mullions and transoms are all moulded, and the surround (which is four centred) has a hollow moulding; most of the windows have old fragments.
The south wall has rather more windows, but none as large as the last described. In the chancel are two Perpendicular windows with trefoiled lights set flush with the wall, and with original ferramenta; near the priest's doorway is a rectangular low-side window, below the western of the last two windows. The nave has a large two-light window with ogee heads to the lights and bar tracery (this seems to be an insertion of the nineteenth century), and further west is a single Norman light rather larger than those in the north wall. Close to the porch is a two-light Perpendicular window with trefoiled lights and a moulded label. The parapet above is pierced by two small quatrefoils which also light the nave. The east window of the chancol is all nineteenth-century in its present form, of three lights with trefoils in a circle in the tracery, executed in Bath stone. Each side of the tower staircase in the west wall of the nave is a single lancet.
The three doorways of the church are all Norman in origin, although rather too clean-cut to have survived unaltered. The north and south nave doorways are similar, with three receding round arches, and on the north parts of a mediaeval door survive. The south door is Georgian, with fielded panels. The priest's doorway in the south chancel wall is a smaller version of the same with two receding arches instead of three. On the east jamb of the south nave doorway is a mass dial, and the porch which shelters it is dated 1594 with an initialled shield of arms. A mass dial on the west jamb of the priest's doorway is also well preserved.
The west wall of the tower is flush with the west wall of the nave, but breaks forward in the middle into an uncommonly shaped projection like a swollen buttress housing the vice for access to the upper floors. The belfry has two-light bell-openings with a quatrefoil in the head of each and is crowned by a parapet with three large merlons on each side. The western wall has a clock face just below the porapet and within rises a pyramidal lead-covered cap surmounted by an iron weathervane. Only the stumps of pinnacles remain. The west angles of the nave have angle buttresses forming a continuation of the north and south nave walls, the only buttresses in the building.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
The east window depicts the Crucufixion in the centre panel with the instruments of the passion on panels in the flanking lights.
Stained Glass
c.1935
One two-light window in the south wall shows Christ with the Woman of Samaria.
Interior
Interior Description
The restoration of 1893 stripped the internal wall surfaces, leaving them bare of plaster, and the stonework was repointed with cement. At the same time, the roof was entirely replaced in oak, a low-pitched design with massive tie beams which doubtless follows the original, and the furnishings were almost all renewed in pale brown oak.
An odd feature of the tower's position within the west nave wall is that there are small chambers contrived on at least two levels in the small spaces north and south of the tower itself. These are entered by low doorways, but nothing remains of the upper floors save the recesses to receive the floor joists. The ground floor chamber on the south has a window to the nave which is filled with three trefoiled panels of tracery executed in wood. The first floor chambers communicated with the nave through a quatrefoil on the south side and a cross-shaped opening on the north, but the floor area is so small that it is difficult to see for what purpose these rooms could have been used. The stair to the upper floors of the tower (closed at the head and foot by mediaeval doors with original catches) projects from the centre of the west wall of the tower, and is very restricted. The first floor chamber (or silence chamber) holds the clock and the stage above is the belfry, containing two bells.
The chancel is distinguished from the nave only by a step in the floor and by more elaborate floor tiles, there being no chancel arch or even any change in the width of the building. The former presence of a rood screen is suggested by a recess behind the pulpit on the north side with the lowest half-dozen steps of a rood stair rising within the embrasure. At the west end, an oak screen of about 1900 forms a vestry and a corner for the little Holdich organ, while the tall narrow tower arch beyond, which is simply chamfered, is filled with a Georgian wooden tympanum doubtless of the same date as the south door. The floors throughout are tiled in the alleys and the pews and stalls stand on timber platforms.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
c.1900
The altar dates from c.1900, of oak, in the Perpendicular style.
Reredos
c.1900
The reredos is of oak and in Perpendicular style.
Pulpit
c.1900
The pulpit, of oak and the Perpendicular style, is quite a fine piece with ogee-headed panels filled with linenfold on each face, and much blind bracery, octagonal in plan.
Lectern
The lectern is a brass eagle, late in date for the type but quite spirited, and on a substantial brass pillar supported by flying buttresses.
Font (object)
The font is Georgian, a simple bowl shaped like an egg-cup on a stone baluster.
Organ (object)
The organ is a small one-manual instrument in an oak case of curious arrangement to fit into the north-west angle of the nave. There are four speaking stops (8,8,8,4), with tracker action and one octave pedal pull downs; manual blowing system; the nameplate gives the information. "G.M. Holdich, Organ Builder, 4 Judd Place East, New Road, London"
Pew (object)
c.1900
Executed in Perpendicular style of oak.
Rail
c.1900
Executed in Perpendicular style of oak.
Stall
c.1900
Executed in Perpendicular style of oak.
Screen
c.1900
West screen. Executed in Perpendicular style of oak.
Bells
Churchyard
Grid reference: SP 717 602
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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