Description

COXWOLD VILLAGE STREET
SE 5277-5377
(south side)
9/38
Church of St Michael
17.5.60
GV I

Church. West Tower and nave with south porch, all of c1430, chancel rebuilt in
1774 by Thomas Atkinson. Ashlar sandstone, lead roofs. Perpendicular. Octago-
nal tower of 3 storeys, nave of 5 bays with porch in 2nd bay, chancel of 3
bays. Tower: staircase turret in south angle; angle buttresses with gablets and
detached square shafts above, set diagonally and linked to the tower by short
flying buttresses, 3-light west window with cinque-cusping and Perpendicular
tracery; south and west vents to ringing chamber; belfrey windows on each side
have 2 lights, central transom and Perpendicular tracery; C18 clock on east
side; between pinnacles of buttress shafts, delicate filigree tracery; weather
vane in centre of tower roof. Porch: in 2nd nave bay; segmental-arched doorway
with continuous mouldings of hollow chamfer and roll, with hood mould; solid
parapets with Jacobean finials; on each side a chamfered slit vent; inside are
wooden benches with hinged seats forming chests; some reused early medieval
grave covers in walls; wall plate partly crested; old flat roof with crossed
beams with painted carved boss at central joint, and some old joists; inner door
of old lapped plank in pointed arch of continuous mouldings with hollow chamfers
alternating with ogees, and hood mould with pattee crosses on stops; masons'
marks on inner facet of doorway. Nave has plinth; between bays, buttresses
carrying detached shafts with gargoyles; sill band; windows of 3-lights with
Perpendicular tracery, segmental-pointed arches and hoodmoulds; crenellated
parapets pierced with cusped openings and pinnacles, medieval grave cover
propped up against 1st bay; Sterne tombstone (qv) in 4th day; blocked north
doorway has Tudor arch, hollow chamfered and with shields in spandrels and hood
mould, blocking has strapwork panel with crown above. Chancel in inferior
stone; offset buttresses between bays; C19 priest's door in 1st bay; 2-light
window of 1912 in 3rd bay; sacred monogram on shields in crenellated parapet;
replaced 3-light east window; no windows on north side. Interior: Chancel arch
of segmental shape, continuously moulded with double hollow chamfers; double-
chamfered pointed arch to tower; piscina in south chapel has hollow-chamfered
uncusped trefoil head; stoup inside south door has segmental-pointed arch; nave
roof is flat and has 3 spine beams with painted carved bosses at junctions with
tie beams; chancel roof of basket-arched beams with carved bosses at ridge junc-
tions, and panels divided into 4, with bosses; windows have classical moulding
to sills and medieval glass in tracery. West gallery on fluted columns; on west
wall above gallery, traces of black lettering, and Wombwell hatchments. Monu-
ments: in floor of nave central aisle, black marble slab with brass indents
under glass to Sir John Manston d.1464; on north wall of chancel, large impres-
sive monuments to Henry Belasyse d.1647 and his son Thomas, Earl Fauconberg
d.1700, with white marble life-size figures with putti above bearing an earl's
coronet, by John Nost; and a tombchest to William Belasyse d.1603 and his wife
Margaret, with recumbent effigies in large classical entablature with painted
strapwork, coats of arms and Latin texts, carved by Thomas Browne from Hazlewood
stone; on south wall of chancel, monument to Thomas Vicount Fauconberg d.1632
and his wife Barbara d.1618, with 2 kneeling figures in large aedicule with
Corinthian columns; and an imitation Gothic chantry-style monument to Henry,
last Earl Fauconberg d.1802, and his wife Charlotte d.1825. The chancel has an
unusual C18 altar rail of turned balusters projecting forward in U-shaped plan
between the monuments; desk with reused traceried panels. In the nave, C18
pulpit with tester and reading desk; C18 pews with fielded-panel doors, in plan
devised to face the parson by Lawrence Sterne, perpetual curate of Coxwold
1760-68; above the chancel arch, George II royal coat of arms flanked by
Fauconberg arms. VCH ii,pp 21-23; also various guides on sale in the church.

Listing NGR: SE5329977201

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Michael, Coxwold at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17538112

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)