Weight: 112 lbs Diameter: 17.13" Bell 1 of 2
Founded by Thomas I Mears 1804
Dove Bell ID: 60694 Tower ID: 23853 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Stragglethorpe: St Michael
Diocese of Lincoln
Festival Church, 621254
This church is on the Heritage at Risk Register (verified 2025-11-06)
View more information about this church on the Heritage at Risk website
Overview
Grid reference: SK 913 524
Virtually nothing is known for certain about the building history of this little church, and the simplicity of its architecture makes any deductions rather difficult to substantiate.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Simply a rectangle with nave and chancel under one roof, and a small north aisle. On the south is a porch and on the west gable a bell-cote.
Footprint of Church buildings: 135 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The west wall is pre-Conquest. Much of the rest of the church is transitional. The west bell-cote is Early English with Decorated alterations; otherwise some features are pointed, others round-headed without any special pattern.
Exterior Description
Virtually nothing is known for certain about the building history of this little church, and the simplicity of its architecture makes any deductions rather difficult to substantiate. It seems sensible to begin a description with the west wall, which is agreed to be the oldest part in the centre, hidden externally by a later buttress, is a blocked doorway with a triangular head which appears to be Saxon. The buttress is thirteenth century, with three off-sets, but in the lower part is inserted (possibly from another place) a fifteenth-century niche with a square embattled head over a crocketted ogee arch and a corbel carved with two big knobbly leaves. The niche contains a statue of St. Michael and the dragon Satan which is probably nineteenth-century. The bell-cote, like the buttress which supports it, is thirteenth-century with two arched openings under a steep gablet and small stops carved as heads.
The south wall of the nave has a rectangular window to the west of the porch which appears to be a post-mediaeval replacement and a two light Perpendicular window at about the midpoint. This has cinquefoil hoaded lights with a pointed quatrefoil compressed to fit into the obtuse angled head. The old stanchions and saddebars remain here as elsewhere in the church. The porch shelters a pointed doorway with a chamfered edge and billet in the hoodmould. The door is mediaeval with two long iron hinges ending in trifids. A plain stone above the doorway is perhaps the sill of a former niche, and on the west jamb there are two mass dials. The outer doorway is also pointed, with mouldings reaching to the ground from the apex of the arch and a moulded hood terminating in carved heads, that on the right apparently of a round-faced monk with a tonsure. The arch is closed by a simple wooden gate.
Further along the south nave wall, in the part which corresponds with the chancel internally (though not distinguished externally) there is a rectangular low-side window with a chamfered surround, and towards the eastern angle a larger rectangular window also with a chamfered surround, set higher in the wall. The east wall has two equal round-headed lights typical of the Transitional style and a roll moulding at the level of a plinth. Unlike the west wall, which has two buttresses at the south-west angle the eastern angles have no buttresses. The quoins are of neat ashlar; the proportions and the precision of the stone cutting suggests an eighteenth-century rebuilding. The gable leans outwards dramatically.
The north side of the church has very few architectural features. Neither the north aisle north wall nor the chancel north wall has any windows, and there are only small round-headed lights in the east and west walls of the aisle. The aisle has been raised at some time, and its north wall has been rebuilt in ashlar (possibly at the same time as the renewal of the chancel quoins), so that the pitch of the roof has been altered from quite steep to almost flat. The plain parapet at the east end, moreover, now rises oddly above the wallhead of the body of the church. The north doorway is round-headed and has a thin chamfer.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
In one of the two east windows there are fragments of mediaeval glass, some parts of figures and some canopy work.
Interior
Interior Description
The character of the interior of the church is entirely conditioned by the fact that since the eighteenth century it has escaped restoration. The walls are still plastered and the eighteenth century plaster ceiling also remains, with part cut away on the north side of the chancel to accommodate the upper part of the splendid monument to Sir Richard Earle which forms the most treasured possession of the church. The ceiling of the north aisle has been removed quite recently. The floor is paved with uneven stone flags with one step down into the chancel, and a pulpit and box pews in oak faded to a dry silvery grey complete the picture. The north arcade has two round arches, yet with double chamfers, which may be taken as a typical Transitional blend of Norman and Early English features. On the other hand, the upper two stones and the capital of the octagonal central pier are decorated with a stippled pattern of crosses and squares which appears to be seventeenth-century. The arcade may perhaps not be all that it seems at first, and this may represent a heightening of the church associated with the additional height of the north aisle already noted on the exterior. It is in any case certain that the church has sunk in relation to the ground level outside since the time when the present floor level was established. The old moulded octagonal base of the pillar remains and the Norman font on a round step at its foot appears to have been untouched for centuries.
In the north and south walls (both of which lean considerably outwards), at roughly the point where a chancel arch might be expected, there are corbels carved as the winged busts of angels, one with a shield and the other wearing a crown of fleurs-de-lys. In the chancel there is an aumbry in the south wall closed by pierced oak doors and in the north-east corner lie fragments of a Norman pillar piscina.
Fixtures and fittings
Font (object)
The font is large and plain, simply a big drum of Norman date sitting on the floor and decorated with blank round arches on an arcade. It has a chamfered base and about half of the circular step survives.
Altar
17th Century
The altar is a seventeenth-century communion table with turned legs and moulded stretchers and rails, of oak.
Reredos
The reredos is made up of old oak panelling, and is really a gradine with a curtain hung as a dossal above.
Pulpit
The pulpit is hexagonal, made of oak with a fielded panel in each face and a moulded cornice. The stair of four steps which is placed within the reading pew has square banisters and moulded capping and the desk on the west side has three fielded panels on the west face and three smaller ones above, the desk itself supported by a heavy moulding which breaks forward into a bracket at the centre.
Bells
Weight: 149 lbs Diameter: 18.25" Bell 2 of 2
Founded by Thomas Osborn 1790
Dove Bell ID: 60695 Tower ID: 23853 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SK 913 524
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.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
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
Quinquennial Inspections
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