Church Of St Michael and All Angels, Hilperton, Wiltshire, BA14 (Grade II)

St 85 NE HILPERTON THE KNAP (east side)

7/23 Church of St Michael and All Angels

13-11-62

Anglican parish church. C15, rebuilt 1852 by T.H. Wyatt in C14 style. Rubble stone, Welsh slate roof with coped verges. Plan: West tower, nave with south porch, chancel with north vestry and organ chamber. Gabled C19 porch with segmental pointed doorway with hoodmould, coped verge with cross finial. Nave has one 2- light segmental pointed window to left and gabled dormer with 2- light pointed window over, three 2-light pointed windows to right of porch, corbelled eaves. Chancel has two 2-light pointed windows with hoodmoulds to south side, 3-light window with reticulated tracery to east, angle buttresses, vestry has 2-light pointed east window, 1892 consecration cross, north side has Tudor- arched doorway and 2-light window, lean-to attached to east side has 5-light ovolo-mullioned casement, cusped lancet over, stack with panelled sides. North side of nave has three 2-light pointed windows and one 2-light segmental-headed window, three reset memorial tablets, probably from chest tombs, one incorporating a bronze panel – to Betty Daniel died 1770. Three-stage tower has diagonal buttresses, west doorway with rounded corners and cusp, planked door with strap hinges, 3-light restored pointed Perpendicular window over string course, lancet on south side. Second stage has lancet to north, circular clock face to south. Upper part of bellstage has ogee-headed deep chamfered lancets, circular clockface on west side. Octagonal broach spire. Polygonal C19 stair turret with chamfered arrowloops on north side. Interior: Porch has scissor-rafter roof, C19 moulded pointed doorway. Nave has 5-bay roof; deep arch-braced collar trusses on foliated corbels, double chamfered segmental-pointed tower arch with 1890s wooden screen. C19 double chamfered chancel arch with wrought iron screen. Chancel has panelled roof with painted ribs and panels, two moulded pointed arches through to vestry and organ chamber with wooden screen. C19 wooden reredos, piscina on south east windowsill. C19 polygonal wooden pulpit with octagonal tester, given by John Kemp 1894. C19 seating. Royal arms of George III, 1771 over south doorway. C12 cylindrical stone font with fine carved arcading, reset on C19 base. 1890s Flemish or German stained glass in north west nave and south east chancel windows. South east window of nave to Rush family, by Ward and Hughes 1894. 1920s south west nave glass to John Kemp. East window to Gouldsmith family. Monuments include brass on nave bench end to John Fido, rector died 1723, black and white marble tablet with draped urn to Elizabeth Chapman died 1780. Medieval church door against west end of nave; a fine example with cross braces. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire, 1975)