St Michael's Church, High Ercall facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Michael's Church, High Ercall
St Michael and All Angels' Church, High Ercall
Tower of St Michael's Church, High Ercall
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OS grid reference	SJ 595 174
Location	High Ercall, Shropshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	High Ercall S.Michael and All Angels, High Ercall
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	18 June 1959
Architect(s)	G. E. Street (restoration)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Transitional, Gothic
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, tiled roofs
Administration
Parish	Ercall Magna
Deanery	Wrockwardine
Archdeaconry	Salop
Diocese	Lichfield
Province	Canterbury

St Michael's Church is a very old and important church located in the village of High Ercall, Shropshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church, which means it's a local church for the community that follows the Church of England's traditions. It's part of a larger group of churches in the area.

This church is so special that it's listed as a Grade I building in the National Heritage List for England. This means it's one of the most important historic buildings in the country and is protected by law.

The Story of St Michael's Church

The main part of the church, called the nave, and the side sections, known as aisles, were built a very long time ago, in the late 1100s. The area around the altar, called the chancel, was added later, in the early 1300s. A special north chapel was also created in 1334.

Damage and Repairs

St Michael's Church faced a tough time during the English Civil War (1645–1646). It was badly damaged during this conflict. However, people worked hard to fix and rebuild it between 1657 and 1662.

Later, in 1864, a famous architect named George Edmund Street led a big project to restore the church. During this time, he added the south porch (a covered entrance) and a vestry (a room for clergy and church items). In 1998, a new floor was put into the tower for bell-ringing, which also created space for a kitchen and toilets below.

Church Design and Features

St Michael's Church is built from sandstone blocks, called ashlar, and has a tiled roof. The stone in the tower is mostly grey, while other parts of the church have a mix of red and grey sandstone. The church has a main hall (nave), side aisles, a south porch, a chancel with a north chapel, a south vestry, and a tall tower at the west end.

Outside the Church

The church's tower is built in a style called Perpendicular Gothic. It has a window on the west side and a small stair turret on the north. You can see clock faces on the north, west, and south sides. Above these are openings for the bells.

At the very top of the tower, there's a battlement (a wall with gaps for defense) and a small spire with a weathervane. Below the battlement, you can spot gargoyles (carved stone figures that act as water spouts) and a decorative band called a quatrefoil frieze. The bottom of the tower looks very worn from the weather. Some people in the village have a fun story that the damage is from people sharpening their weapons on it long ago!

The church has many windows. There are three-light windows along both side aisles, and in the north and east walls of the chapel, as well as in the east and south walls of the chancel. Most of the windows on the north and south sides of the church are straight-headed. There are also doorways on both sides of the aisles, with the south doorway being inside the porch.

Inside the Church

Inside, you'll find beautiful arcades (rows of arches) in a Transitional style. These arches are supported by round piers (columns) with capitals (the tops of the columns) carved with spirals, leaves, and rams' heads. The arches between the chancel and chapel rest on eight-sided piers.

The nave, chancel, and chapel all have special double-hammerbeam roofs, which are impressive wooden ceilings. On the north wall of the nave, there's an early Norman tympanum (a carved stone panel above a doorway) that was moved there.

The reredos (a screen behind the altar), sedilia (seats for clergy), piscina (a basin for washing sacred vessels), pulpit (where sermons are given), and font (for baptisms) were all designed simply by G. E. Street. The beautiful chandelier was made by William Bradshaw in 1730. The floors throughout the church are tiled.

Under the chapel arch, there's a stone effigy (a sculpted image) of a knight lying down. His armour shows he lived around the 1330s. You can also see a bronze sundial plate from 1718. This was moved from the churchyard in 1998 and placed on a stoup (a basin for holy water).

Stained Glass and Music

The chapel and tower have colourful stained glass windows from 1863–1864, made by Lobin et fils from Tours, France. Other windows were made by Heaton, Butler and Bayne between 1895 and 1910.

The church has a two-manual pipe organ that was first built in 1856 by Walker. It was rebuilt in 1894 by Charles Martin and then restored again by Walker in 1956. There is a ring of eight bells in the tower. Six of these were cast between 1707 and 1767 by Rudhall of Gloucester, and the other two were made in 1812 by John Briant.

Memorials and History

On the north wall, there are two special memorial "Rolls of Honour." The older one remembers men from the parish who served in World War I (called "the European War" on the roll), including those who died. It has the motto, Honour to those who helped to right the wrong, and is decorated with flags of British nations and allied countries, along with pictures of battleships, a gun, a tank, aircraft, and soldiers in a trench. This roll was printed in Longsight, Manchester.

The other memorial is for members of No. 247 Squadron RAF, also known as the China-British Squadron, who died in World War II. This unit was based at RAF High Ercall during the war. Next to the list of names, there's a poem called The China Brits.

Outside the Church Grounds

In the southern part of the churchyard, you can find the remains of a very old churchyard cross from the early-medieval period. It's just a broken shaft (the main pillar) and a base with a hollow space inside. This cross is also listed as Grade I, just like the church, and is a scheduled monument, meaning it's an important archaeological site. The stone wall around the churchyard is also listed as Grade II.

The churchyard has many graves from different centuries. There's also an 18th-century sundial that shows the time in different places like Jerusalem, Rome, and Plymouth in Massachusetts.

The churchyard also contains nine Commonwealth war graves. These are for six British soldiers who died in World War I, and one British airman and two Canadian airmen who died in World War II.

See also

• Grade I listed churches in Shropshire
• Listed buildings in Ercall Magna