Description

CROSTON CHURCH STREET SD 41 NE 8/67 Church of St. Michael (Formerly 17.4.67 listed as Church of St Michael GV and All Angels) II*

Parish church, probably mainly C16, with some earlier fabric at east end, and C15 tower: altered in C17, partly rebuilt at various dates in C18, re-roofed and "beautified" 1823, restored 1866-7. Squared sandstone. West tower, nave with north and south aisles under same roof, chancel with north and south aisles. Massive square 4-stage tower, mostly embraced by nave, with angle buttresses and embattled parapet with corner and intermediate pinnacles, has deep moulded pointed-arched west door with hoodmould terminating in carved heads, above this an arched 4-light window with moulded surround (probably C16 but containing later tracery), 3-light belfry louvres with intersecting tracery and hoodmoulds; clockfaces on the north and south sides; and looplights to an internal vice in the south west corner. Nave with aisles externally divided by buttresses into 5 bays, has large 4-light windows, almost semi-circular headed, with restored intersecting tracery, and hoodmoulds; 1st bay on north side has a very wide moulded 4-centred arched doorway with leaf spandrels and square hoodmould on the centre of which a small shield displays the Hesketh arms; above this a low 4-centre-headed window of 4 round-headed lights with hollow spandrels, flanked at sill level by carved armorial shields; and a battlement above inscribed: "THIS CHURCH WAS NEW ROOF'D AND BEAUTIFYD AD 1823". On south side 2nd bay has a gabled porch with diagonal buttresses and straight side parapets, an almost semi-circular-headed arched doorway moulded in 2 orders, and inner 4-centred arched doorway with moulded surround. North chancel aisle (Becconsall chapel) has two 3-light windows in the side and one in the end; south chancel aisle (chantry chapel of St. John the Baptist) has a priests door with 4-centred head, two 3-light windows in the side and one at the end. The projecting bay of the chancel has a 5-light pointed arched east window with intersecting tracery, and on the south side a smaller square-headed window with 3 cinquefoil-headed lights and perpendicular tracery above. Interior: lofty 4-bay nave, with 5th bay at west end formed by north and south arches of tower: nave arcade of relatively low pointed arches chamfered in 2 orders springing from octagonal columns, the caps and springing evidently altered and reconstructed; flat-pitched roof of 6 bays with moulded beams on carved wall brackets (similar to aisles); tower arches on north and south sides similar to those of nave but of 3 orders, but arch to nave springing from much greater height. Chancel arch (modern) of 2 orders springing from shafts with moulded caps; chancel aisle arcades rebuilt. In chancel, remains of an aumbry in the north wall, and of a double piscina in the south wall, this with a carved capital of a shaft, possibly C13; at west end, hexagonal font dated 1663 with carved geometricised quatrefoil panels, on 6-shafted pedestal; and over south door a hatchment. Reference: VCH lancs VI pp. 82-85.

Listing NGR: SD4900918394

External Links

• Wikidata Q17530997

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Recommended Books

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  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)