Description

STAPLEFORD HIGH ROAD (A602) TL 31 SW (West side) Waterford 6/120 Church of St Michael - and All Angels GV II*

Parish church. 1871-2 by H. Woodyer at expense of R.A. Smith of Goldings (listed in Hertford Civil Parish in East Herts District). Concrete, faced in snecked Kentish ragstone with Bath stone dressings. Timber porch. Broseley tiled roof, shingled spire. Gothic Revival Style. 4 bay nave with slightly narrower, shorter chancel, S porch. N vestry and organ bay. The church is built on a slope so that the E end is raised up. 3 light E window, Geometrical tracery in a pointed head, hood mould, string course at sill level stepped down to sides. Double plinth. Relief panels. 2 stage diagonal buttresses with trefoiled gablets. Shaped kneelers to coped gable parapet with ridge cross. Chancel S elevation: central 2 stage buttress with to right a gablet over a 2 light ovolo moulded window with quatrefoil in vesica at pointed head, returned hood mould. To left 2 lancets with trefoils at heads. Plinth, string course below sill level. Rainwater heads dated 1872. Projecting stone course at close eaves. Chancel to N has a lancet with trefoil at head, string course below. Taller nave, kneelers to coped E gable parapet. S elevation: 2, 1 and 3 light windows, Geometrical tracery, hollow moulded surrounds, 2 stage buttress to E, smaller buttress to centre. To W of S elevation is porch, inner double moulded pointed arch, plank door with strap hinges. Low ashlar base to open traceried timber panels, braces to cambered tie beam, quatrefoil panels up to collar with upper trefoil, trefoiled bargeboards to steep gable. Each return has 2 triple cusped arcades with turned shafts, pierced quatrefoils. Unbuttressed W end has 3 lancets with trefoils at heads, roll moulded surrounds, intermediate buttresses, upper 2 lights and slit opening, kneelers to coped gable parapet. On ridge to W is belfry with paired louvred openings. Broached spire with weathervane. Nave to N has 2, 2 and 1 light windows as to S with a 2 stage buttress to right of centre. Catslide roof from chancel over vestry and organ bay extending onto nave with a canted angle to W. Battered base with roll moulded string course. Steps up to door, 4 lancets to left with 2 tiny gables in roof, trefoiled slits to right, 2 light window to E end. Interior: pointed chancel arch with inner chamfer stopped on shaped corbels at springing, continuous outer ovolo moulding to broach stop. To W bay of nave timber arched braces from semi-octagonal responds with bases and brattished capitals to cambered tie beam, queen posts with engaged shafts, curved braces to collar supporting belfry. Main nave roof has arched braces, curved collars with crown posts and angled struts, clasped purlins, curved windbraces. Chancel roof has moulded arched braces to collars, moulded purlins. Pointed arched vestry doors with decorative strap hinges, ball flower ornament in hollow moulding to nave, roll moulded to chancel. Window embrasures: cusped hollow moulded heads in nave to N and S, engaged shafts in chancel to N and S, cusped moulding to E. Chancel wall mosaics 1901-12 by J.P. Hutchinson of J. Powell and Sons: blue and green angels and ornament. Reredos 1901 by J. Powell and sons, central cusped niche with flanking mosaic angels and saints behind 8 verde antico columns with alabaster bases and stiff leaf capitals. Minton floor tiles. Communion rails: turned timber balusters with quatrefoiled lattice ironwork. Gothic octagonal pulpit. Font to W with shafted round stem, octagonal bowl with quatrefoil panels, tall Gothic timber font cover. Organ 1872 by J.W. Walker, illuminated pipes. Stained glass throughout, largely by Morris and Co.. Chancel: to E Nativity by Burne Jones with flanking musical angels by Morris, to S Annunciation by Morris, King David and Miriam by Burne Jones, to N St. Michael by Morris all 1872. Nave: to S Christ and Angels 1896, St. Peter 1876, Virgin and Christ 1917, all by Burne Jones, the latter made by J.H. Dearle, to W Noah and St. Phillip by Ford Madox Brown, St. John the Baptist by Burne Jones, all on clear glass grounds with tracery by P. Webb, 1872, to N St. Cecilia 1929 by C. Parsons, Road to Emmaus 1928 by D. Strachan, Wise Virgins 1888 by S. Image for Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Below 2 windows to W a beaten bronze memorial to Lt.Col. W.A. Smith by A.J. Danielli. (The Builder, vol.XXX, 1540, Aug.10.1872,p.631: Pevsner 1977).

Listing NGR: TL3126614668

External Links

• Wikidata Q17553471

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Recommended Books

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version