The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Steventon

Ambrosden church

The Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Steventon consists of a chancel 34 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft., with south chapel, nave 66 ft. by 21 ft. 9 in., with south chapel continuous with the chancel chapel, and a south tower 11 ft. square. These measurements are all internal.

The earliest part of the structure is an arch and pier opening into the south chapel, which are of about 1220. At this time the chancel appears to have extended one bay further west than at present, and to have had a south chapel. In the 14th century the whole structure was almost entirely rebuilt, the nave being probably lengthened at both ends, the south tower added, and the south aisle or chapel rebuilt and extended up to it. The church has been restored in modern times.

The chancel has a 15th-century east window of five lights under a pointed head, and in the north wall are two 14th-century windows, the one of two lights under a square head with net tracery, the other of three lights with a pointed head much restored. At the east end of the south wall is a small two-light window of the 15th century with a square head. Further west is a 14th-century pointed doorway and a very wide moulded arch of the 15th century opening to the south chapel and partly restored. It rests at the west on a cylindrical 13thcentury pier. To the south of the east window is a canopied niche with the canopy cut back flush with the wall. The trefoil-headed piscina has a bracket at the back and a large rose masking the drain. The 14th-century double sedilia have cusped heads under a square main head with a ribbed vault and bracket seats. There is no structural chancel arch, the division being marked by a break in the north wall. The roof is of the trussed rather type with curved ribs and square bosses at intervals, these including a carved mitre and queen's head.

The nave has two 14th-century windows in the north wall, both of two lights, and between them is the north doorway of the same date, moulded and pointed. The south arcade extends only as far west as the tower and is of two bays. The eastern arch, apparently of the 13th century, is pointed and chamfered; its eastern side rests on the cylindrical pier before mentioned, which has a moulded base and foliage bell capital. The west respond is square, and against it is set the 14th-century respond of the next arch with a moulded semi-octagonal capital. The pointed arch is of two chamfered orders and the west respond has a row of carved oak leaves on the capital. This respond rests on a bracket a short distance above the floor. West of the tower is a 14th-century window of two lights under a square head. The 15th-century west window is square-headed and of three lights, and under it is a round-headed west doorway of the same date containing the old panelled two-fold doors somewhat repaired. The nave roof is similar to that of the chancel with curved ribs and moulded plate and ridge; it has square bosses carved with a mermaid, a king's head, and other subjects. The south chapel has a two-light pointed east window of the 14th century. In the continuous south wall of the chancel and nave chapels are a trefoil-headed piscina and three two-light windows similar to that in the east wall.

The tower at the west end of the south aisle is of three stages with a diagonal buttress at the south-west angle and an embattled parapet. The ground stage has pointed and moulded arches of the 14th century on the east and north with moulded responds having moulded capitals; that on the south-east has a row of small carved flowers. The doorway in the south wall is pointed and has two-fold oak doors with shallow cusped panelling. In the west wall is a pointed 14th-century window of two lights. The buttresses of the north wall are carried down within the church. The bell-chamber is lighted by two-light 14th-century windows with pointed heads.

The church is built entirely of rubble with ashlar dressings and the roof is lead-covered.

The early 18th-century communion table has twisted legs. The octagonal pulpit is Jacobean with three richly carved panels on each face; three of these bear shields, a cheveron between three lily heads, a cheveron between three fleurs de lis, and a cheveron between three arrow heads; the rest are conventional foliage, strapwork, grotesques, &c. Under the tower is an almsbox dated 1633 with three locks, and in the nave are some 15th or 16thcentury benches with traceried panelled ends, some of them buttressed. The 15thcentury font is octagonal with a quatrefoil panel in each face of the bowl having foliage ornaments in the centres.

In the chancel is a brass of a civilian and one wife; the figure of another wife and the inscription are missing. It is said by Ashmole to be the brass of Richard Do (d. 1476) and his wives Agnes and Joan. In the south aisle is a brass of a man in armour and his wife commemorating Edmund Wiseman and Anne (Hawkins d. January 1584–5) his wife with eight children and two shields, the first Wiseman quartering a fesse indented ermine between six martlets, and the second Hawkins quartering Bayley. Next to it is a floor slab to Dulcibella first wife of Edmund Wiseman and daughter of Samuel Dunch of Pusey (d. 1656), with three shields, Wiseman, Wiseman impaling Dunch, and Wiseman impaling Clarke of Ardington. It also commemorates Edmund Wiseman (d. 1689) and his second wife Susanna (Clarke).

There are six bells: the treble and third inscribed 'This bell was made 1613'; the second and fourth by Taylor & Co., 1849; the fifth inscribed 'Henry Knight made this bell ano 1617,' and the tenor inscribed 'Ellis & Henry Knight made mee 1674.'

The plate includes a cup and cover paten (both London, 1571) of silver gilt (the cup has a ringed stem with squirrels); a paten of 1874 and a small modern cup.

The registers previous to 1812 which are preserved here are as follows: (i) all entries 1558–9 to 1629; (ii) all entries 1631 to 1671; (iii) baptisms 1670 to 1741, marriages 1678 to 1740, burials 1672 to 1743; (iv) all entries 1742 to 1775, marriages to 1754 only; (v) marriages 1754 to 1812; (vi) baptisms and burials 1795 to 1812. The oldest register, 1533 to 1559, is now in the British Museum among the Harleian MSS.

Historical information about The Church of St. Michael and All Angels is provided by 'Parishes: Steventon', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 365-369. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp365-369 [accessed 10 March 2023].

The Church of St. Michael and All Angels is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, Steventon - 1181950 | Historic England.

For more information about The Church of St. Michael and All Angels see Parishes: Steventon | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).