Church of St Michael, Wincle

St Michael’s is an active Anglican church in the villageSmall rural collection of buildings with a church. of WincleVillage and civil parish in East Cheshire., in East Cheshire. It is in the Archdeaconry of Macclesfield, the Deanery of Macclesfield and the Diocese of Chester, and is one of the three churches in the BeneficeOriginally used in feudal societies to describe a grant of land as a reward for services rendered. In modern usage it refers to a collection of parishes working together under a single incumbent. of Wincle, Wildboarclough and Bosley.^[1]

The church occupies the site of a Neolithic burial ground. The original building, completed in 1647, was substantially restored by Edward Witts in 1882; there is a dated lintel from the original structure over the priest’s door. The tower dates from about 1820.^[2][3][4]

St Michael’s was designated a Grade II listed buildingStructure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection. in 1984.^[3] The southeast corner of the churchyard contains the grave of Private L. Belfield of the South Wales Borderers, who died fighting in the First World War.^[5]

Architecture

The church is built in buff coursed rubble gritstone with ashlarMasonry of squared and finely cut or worked stone, commonly used for the facing of a building. quoinsAny external angle or corner of a structure., and has a roof of banded grey tiles. It is built to a plain rectangular pattern with five bays and no aislesPart of a church on either side of the nave or choir, separated from them by arcades, colonnades or piers. More generally, a passageway between seats in an auditorium, shelves in a supermarket and so on., with a three-stage battlemented west tower; the bell openings have louvres of Kerridge stone.^[3]

Historic England have described the interior as “unadorned”. The font is dated 1861.^[3]

External links

• Official web site