Building record 0416500000 - ST MICHAEL'S CHURCH

Dimensions - Length 46m, Width 18m.
Nave & S aisle with S arcade of 4 bays built c.1190; C13 lengthened; c. 1320 new chancel further E; c.1340 N aisle & arcade. Late C14 W tower added & chancel widened. 2nd half of C15 clearstorey. C19 church resoried (B2).
Grade II+. Parish church. Late C12 nave and S. aisle, altered C13 and C14; C14 chancel and N. aisle; late C15 clerestory; W. tower originally C14, rebuilt 1891; C15 S. porch, also rebuilt; all restored 1902. W. Tower is of coursed rubble stone, remainder roughcast with stone quoins and plinth. Concrete parapets, moulded to chancel, battlemented to remainder. Slate roofs. W. tower is of 2 stages with angle buttresses, S.E. stair turret, carved gargoyles, 2-light cusped openings to bell-chamber, W. door and traceried window. C19 vestry attached to N. 6-bay clerestory of late C15 2-light cusped windows with flat heads. N. aisle has 2 similar 3-light windows and 3 other windows, one to east, with 2-centred heads and Y tracery. Small moulded doorway. S. aisle also irregular with late C15 and C16 cusped windows. S. doorway has moulded arch with outer band of chevron on attached piers with carved capitals. Moulded niche above. S. porch has moulded arch and 2 rainwater heads dated 1736. Chancel has one bay of 2-light traceried windows and one bay of C15 3-light windows with flat heads, the N. wall also with 2 cusped lancets, the S. wall with small moulded doorway. Much restored 3-light traceried window to E. Interior: moulded arch to tower. Nave has C14 N. arcade with 6 bays of moulded arches on octagonal piers. 2 similar arches at E. end of S. arcade. Remainder of S. arcade is C12 and early C13 and has 2-centred arches of 2 off-set orders, one with roll moulding to inner order, on circular piers with scalloped capitals. Labels have nailhead, dogtooth or ball ornament and rest on carved head stops or short attached colonettes. C19 nave roof on C15 carved stone corbels. Cusped piscina in N. aisle, piscina with 4-centred head in S. aisle. Moulded chancel arch on semi- octagonal piers, the outer order on slender attached shafts. Fittings: C15 octagonal font with traceried panels; elaborate C19 marble pulpit, formerly in chapel at Blenheim; remainder C19. Monuments: stone effigy of knight c.1330 in N.E. corner of nave; small memorial tablets to Guy Carleton 1608 and Christian Wake 1609; marble wall tablet to John Ellis and wife c.1700 with scrolls, swags and broken segmental pediment; oval inscription tablet to Henry Wilkinson d.1647 in aedicule with festoons and swan-neck pediment. Brasses to: Robert Piggott and wife mid C16; to Hugh Bristowe 1548 with figure in shroud; to Richard Huntyndon 1543 with small figure of priest; to Sir Roger Dynham, knight, 1490, a large figure with surrounding inscription and triple canopy. RCHM I p. 301-4 (B6).
Included in sketches of Buckinghamshire churches by Charlotte Pigott, wife of George Pigott, squire of Doddershall in Quainton parish, in the early 1840s (B8).
Test pitting carried out in May 2017 by Thames Valley Archaeology Services inside and outside the church found the following: TEST PIT 1: underneath bricks and concrete of drainage channel a small quntity of distarticulated human bone was recovered. No pottery, but tile and metal work, including portion of a coffin handle were recovered. Below this layer was a further quantity of disrticulated human bone. A brik foundation gad been constructed 0.25m from the original stone foundation; TEST PIT 2: under the modern drainage was brown sandy silt mixed with tile ad brick. This overlay light grey sandy silt containing limestone fragments. Two fragments of floor tile were recovered, one piece medieval glazed floor tile; TEST PIT 3: in the north aisle. Modern concrete slabs were found under the suspended floor; TEST PIT 4: Nave. 19th century material overlay a compact earth surface containing crushed mortar. In the northern part of this test pit was a limestone edged grave aligned west-east. The pelvic area of one in situ burial was overlain by femurs and pelvis of a second. The limestone blocks were 0.15m high. A probable carved slab for the northern edge and an uncarved stone formed the southern edge. No finds were recovered from the grave fill and the bones left in situ; TEST PIT 5: South Aisle. Dark brown-black silty ash was exposed under the suspended floor. Pottery and metal finds from this fill suggest a 19th century date. Under this layer light brown sandy chalk clay contained two fragments of disarticulated infant bone. Three courses of interior stone foundation were exposed, all roughly faced; TEST PIT 6: SW part of the church. Top of a crypt tomb was present in the east and left undisturbed. 0.22m below the surface was a course of unbonded limestone rubble within soft brown yellow sandy clay mixed with occasional coarse mortar. No edge of this material was discovered. May possibly be the base of the original 14th century tower as it is to uneven to be a floor and too substantial for a wall (B9).
Included in Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register in 2017 and 2018. In 2017 condition described as 'Poor; priority category C: Slow decay, no solution agreed'; in 2018 condition described as 'Poor; priority D: Slow decay, solution agreed but not yet implemented' (B10-11).
Remains of earlier phases of the church development were identified, including what appears to be a structural phase older than the current Church. The foundations of a wall aligned West-East was found under the north side, and perpendicular to the Chancel arch. It seems likely that this is a part of the church that pre-dates the 14th century. The only in situ graves encountered in the 2018 works have been those of the east nave, and of particular interest was a possible family group of child burials (Graves 101,102 and 103). Their depth was not indicative of their date, and they were not under immediate threat of destruction so were not fully excavated. The vault in the east of the south aisle was backfilled in the 17th century; the only evidence of this period in the interior, or within any part of the Church fabric (B12).
Tops of 2 grave slabs revealed in the north-eastern corner of the north aisle during watching brief (B13).
Summary of watching briefs within the church by TVAS, in 2017-18 (B14).