Church of St Michael

Details

ILSINGTON ILSINGTON SX 77 NE 3/111 Church of St Michael 23.8.55 GV I

Parish church. Late C13 or early C14, enlarged and partly rebuilt in C15 or early C16. The chancel and transepts appear to belong to the first period; the south transept, which is set at a marked angle to the rest of the cnurch, may be still earlier. Body of church restored in 1856 and 1884, the tower in 1908. Built of stone covered mostly with roughcast; the exposed south porch and west ends of the aisles are of granite and slatestone rubble, the tower of coursed granite rubble. Slated roofs. Nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north and south transepts, north and south chancel chapels, south porch, west tower. The south aisle and chancel chapel have similar Perpendicular granite windows with 2-centred arches, only the mullions appearing to be restorations. The north aisle and chancel chapel have a matching set of quite different Perpendicular granite windows with 4-centred arches, the centre light in each window slightly taller than the other two. The aisles and chancel chapels on both sides have battlemented parapets. The south side has clasping buttresses while the north side has buttresses between the aisle windows and an angle buttress on the chancel chapel. At the north-west corner of the north aisle is a 5-sided stair turret with a single slit window. The south transept hasa single-light lancet window of limestone in its west wall; in the south wall is a large Perpendicular granite window with a round arch, and in the east wall a similar window with a pointed arch, the tracery and mullions restored in limestone. The north transept has Decorated limestone windows, all of them apparently C19 restorations; in the west wall, partly blocked by the north aisle, is the outline of a former doorway with pointed arch. The chancel has Decorated limestone windows largely, if not wholly restored; the east window has 3 lights, the north and south windows 2 lights. At the west end of the south wall of the chancel, extending into a recess cut into the transept wall, is a 2-light granite window of the late C16 or C17; it is flat-headed with hollow-moulded mullions. Beneath it, splayed across the angle between chancel and transept, is a plain granite doorway with an elliptical arch. The south porch is 2-storeyed with clasping buttresses and battlemented parapet. In the front is a large heavily- moulded doorway with a straight hood-mould; the inner arch has a 4-centred head with quatrefoils in the spandrels. Above it in the second storey is a pair of segmental-headed recesses with carved spandrels; each has a straight hood-mould with square terminals, those on the left-hand recess bearing letters believed to be SA for St Anne. Above these, centrally placed, is a similar recess with richly carved hood-mould; it contains a C20 statue of the Virgin and Child, brought from Bruges. Beneath the group of recesses is a copper or bronze sundial. There is only one window in the upper storey; this is in the west wall, of 1 light and segmental- arched like the recesses. Fixed to the south-west angle,of the porch is a carved slate headstone of the late C18 having a winged cherub-head at the top. The interior of the porch has stone benches at either side. The moulded upper-floor beams, wholly restored, intersect; within the panels are the original moulded joists with bar-stops. The doorway into the church is of granite with a 2-centred arch; it has a three-quarter-round moulding flanked by 2 hollows with asymmetrical pyramid-stops at the foot. On the floor in front of the doorway is a granite tomb- slab of 1672 with 4 lines of verse carved in the centre. The 3-stage tower has a battlemented parapet and a 5-sided stair turret with slit windows on the south face. in the west face is a chamfered granite doorway with a 2-centred arch. Above it, still in the lowest stage, is a Perpendicular window of 3 lights; this has old granite jambs, but the mullions and tracery are of limestone and probably a restoration. The ringing chamber has a single-light window with a pointed arch in the east face. The bellchamber has a 2-light opening in each face except for that on the south, which has a single-light opening at each side of the stair-turret; the lights have pointed arches. Interior: nave has an arcade of 5 granite arches at either side, the fourth arch from the west forming a bridge over the transept crossing while the fifth arch extends into the chancel, opening into the chancel chapel. The almost rounded arches are carried on piers with heavily moulded capitals and 4 attached shafts having hollow mouldings between them. Plain tower arch with chamfered imposts. Tower staircase has upper and lower stone doorways with chamfered 2-centred arches having diagonal-cut stops. In the south wall of south transept is a piscina with a chamfered 2-centred arch. In south wall of south chancel chapel is a stone staircase to former rood loft, the lower doorway (the only one visible) round-arched and with rebates for a door opening outwards. Small stone staircase to room over porch has a plain doorway, set well above floor level, with a 4-centred arch; the room itself is featureless, with a C19 or C20 roof. Nave, transepts and chancel have wagon roofs. Those of the nave and transepts appear to be C15 or early c16, the nave roof having fine carved bosses. Over the crossing is a particularly fine ribbed wooden vault of the same date, the ribs springing from shaped granite corbels. At the base of each rib is a niche with cinquefoiled head and containing a carved figure; halfway up is an angel with wings unfurled and at the apex a large carved boss. Until C19 the ribs are said to have been painted blue and the bosses red. The north aisle and chancel chapel have flat roofs with moulded intersecting beams; the corresponding roofs on the south are simpler C19 imitations. Fragment of tooth-moulding re-used in north chancel chapel. Fittings. Medieval octagonal font of granite, with plain plinth, shaft and bowl. Traceried oak rood screen across nave and aisles, considerably restored and with barely a trace of colour left. Traceried parclose screens, better preserved but also without colour. In front of rood screen a clergy stall made up of carved medieval bench-ends with poppy-head finials. In the chancel 2 seats made up from simpler bench-ends. On the chancel floor a mosaic of fragments of medieval glazed tiles. East window of north chancel chapel has fragments of medieval coloured glass. South window of south transept has stained glass window of 1888 described by Pevsner as "in a Crane-Arts-and-Crafts style". Monuments. In north transept, in a recess with C19 Gothic canopy, mutilated limestone effigy of a recumbent woman, believed to be C14. Several good carved granite and slate tomb-slabs of C17. One good C16 tomb-slab, probably of limestone, in chancel. At south end of nave a carved paving-stone, possibly part of a medieval tomb-slab. Bells. 4th, 5th and tenor bells cast by Thomas Bilbie, 1797. Cast-iron bell-frame. Sources Church guide, N Pevsner, South Devon, 1952, p.185. Rev. J D H Patch, History of Parish of Ilsington, n.d. Kelly's Directory of Devonshire, 1910.

Listing NGR: SX7853676143

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