Description

SO 43 NW; 2/53

EATON BISHOP CP,
Church of St Michael and all Angels

26.01.67

GV

I

Parish church. C11, C12, C13 and C14 with restorations in 1885 and 1927.
Roughly coursed sandstone rubble and sandstone dressings. Tile and shingle
roofs. West tower, four-bay nave with north and south aisles and south
porch. Two-bay chancel.

Tower is C11 and C12 and was restored in 1927.
Three stages and battered plinth. Shingled broach spire with gabled dormer
to each face. Ground stage has one low-set round-headed chamfered light
set roughly centrally in west and south faces. Similar, but off-centre,
light in north face. Above each of the small lights in south and west
faces is another larger round-headed window. Second stage has one of the
last larger type of round-headed windows to north, south and west faces.
Top stage has twin round-headed openings to each face. Each opening is
divided by a shaft with cushion capital. North-east and south-east corners
of tower are slightly recessed behind main line of north and south walls.
North aisle has chamfered lancet in the west wall. North wall has two
lancets, one to either side of north doorway which has a flat 2-centred
head. To the left side between two buttresses is a 3-light window with a
label and trefoil-headed lights set beneath a gable with a cross. C19 stack
with octagonal shaft to centre. East end of aisle has scars of lower, earlier
and steeper chancel roof. Nave has three recessed clerestory lancets to north
and south. Eastern verge with gable cross below which is small gable light
with 2-centred head and large window of five stepped trefoil-headed lights
under a 2-centred arch with label. Chancel has a pair of traceried 2-light
windows each with 2-centred head and label to north and south sides. Each
light is trefoil-headed and the earlier window on the south side has a higher
cill than the others. Above the windows is a moulded cornice. The east
window has a wide 2-centred head with label and five restored lights all with
trefoiled heads. Diagonal eastern corner buttresses are capped by pinnacles
with crocket and dog-tooth ornament. South aisle has one lancet to east and
west ends. South side has a 2-light window, similar to those of south wall
of chancel, beneath a gable on the right-hand side. It is flanked by two
weathered buttresses. One lancet to each side of late C19 or early C20 south
porch which has two bays and trusses carried on curved angle braces, the
collars of which carry V-struts. Chamfered south doorway with 2-centred head.

INTERIOR: has roofs which are late C19 or later. Nave roof is open wagon
with scissor-struts. Chancel roof has angle braces to rafters and brattished
wall-plates. Aisle roofs are like half of that of nave but at each east end
have diagonal pine ribs rising from C19 corbel heads to form wooden
quadripartite vault beneath the north and south gables. Chancel has three-seater
C14 sedilia with chamfered ogeed and trefoiled heads separated by octagonal
shafts on moulded bases; ballflower frieze above. Piscina has similar but
smaller head to those of sedilia and octagonal drain. Pair of aumbries, one
to each of north and south walls, have C15 traceried panels on late C19 or
early C20 doors. C19 oak altar rails supported by twisted brass posts with
foliated brass decoration. East window which was re-leaded in 1978 has
celebrated C14 stained glass with central Crucifixion flanked by tabernacles
beneath which are angels and donors with a Virgin and Child panel to the left.
In east window of south wall is a more contemporary stained glass with tracery
lights illuminating Christ in Majesty. North-east window has a small Crucifixion
in the tracery. C19 stained glass in south-west window of Samuel Clark shows
SS Michael and Ethelbert in left light and SS Gabriel and Cantelupe in the right.
The window opposite is The Annunciation for Ellen Strong, wife of the then
rector, died 1891. North wall has monument to Richard Sneade, died 1678.
Painted stone, segmental broken peidment containing achievement and flanking
putti. Twisted columns with Ionic capitals. South wall has monument to
Thomas Phillips, died 1784, with arch above cornice and apron in form of a
swag. Also his daughter, Isabella, burnt to death 1836, whose monument is
of white marble with pediment and simplified acroteria with the incised
inscription:

AN AWFUL EXAMPLE OF THIS IMPORTANT TRUTH

"IN THE MIDST OF LIFE WE ARE IN DEATH"
BE YE THEREFORE READY ALSO: FOR THE SON OF MAN COMETH AT
AN HOUR WHEN YE THINK NOT

Large organ to north side inscribed:

EUSTACE INGRAM
HEREFORD 1888

Chancel arch has double chamfers, the inner order on half-columns with fillets
and half-octagonal capitals, the outer order dying into the responds. Chancel
screen of oak, largely c1900, including C14 elements, has three panelled bays
to each side of entry with pairs of ogee and cinquefoiled heads. Nave has C13
arcade with circular piers and abaci; set on diagonal, supporting 2-centred and
double chamfered arches. South-east pier has stiff-leaf foliage. South-west
respond has cusping to each face of abacus. Two carved heads, one above each
of two westernmost abaci of south arcade. West wall of nave has weathering of
older lower nave roof, cushion capital on shaft between twin openings of top
stage of tower. Low unmoulded tower arch of two orders with chamfered jambs
and moulded imposts. Font, partly C13, has eight clustered shafts with foliated
capitals on circular base and a C19 cylindrical bowl. Lectern is probably mid-
C19 with twisted wrought iron shaft to oak book wedge. Pulpit is late C19,
part-octagonal with cresting to top rail and resembles cinquefoil style of
chancel screen. Twisted brass newel post and hand rails to stairs. Stained
glass in east window above chancel arch is late C19 and illustrates The
Resurrection. North aisle has C17 communion table with turned legs and moulded
rails. At the east end beneath C14 ogeed and cinquefoil-headed recessed panel
is a bas-relief in crystalline stone of "Suffer the Little Children" for Lady
Irva Keenan Pulley and Sir Charles Thornton Pulley DL, JP, died 1942 and 1947
respectively. North-east window for Mary Pulley, died 1876, has stained glass
of Charity flanked by Faith and Hope. South aisle has C14 piscina with cinque-
foiled head and circular drain. Above in the easternmost window of the south
wall is stained glass for Sir Joseph Pulley, Bart of Lower Eaton, died 1901,
and the inscription: "This and the window over chancel arch erected 1904".
Brass plaque to nine men who fell in " ... THE WAR WITH GERMANY 1914-19",
with the names arranged hierarchically for the ranks above private, and
alphabetically for privates. To west of south door, painted stone plaque
for William Gulliford, died 1770, with incised lettering and raised parts in
black. Tower has two framed drawings on north wall. One is entitled "Plan
of Sittings"; the other "General'Restoration". Both are inscribed:

T Nicholson FRIBA
Architect
Hereford July 1885
JAT Nicholson Delt

Listing NGR: SO4430239102

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17530096

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)