St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Leigh

St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Leigh
St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Leigh, from the south
St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Leigh Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°16′44″N 2°34′42″W / 53.2790°N 2.5783°W / 53.2790; -2.5783
OS grid reference	SJ 615 759
Location	Little Leigh, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Parish of Aston-by-Sutton, Little Leigh & Lower Whitley
History
Dedication	St Michael
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	18 July 1986
Architect(s)	Edmund Kirby
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Completed	1879
Specifications
Materials	Brick with terracotta dressings Welsh slate roof with an orange tile ridge
Administration
Parish	Little Leigh
Deanery	Great Budworth
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev Dr Collette Jones
Laity
Reader(s)	Jean Davies
Churchwarden(s)	Margaret Davies & Barbara Horton

St Michael and All Angels Church is in the village of Little Leigh, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Great Budworth. It is one of three parish churches in the parish of Aston-by-Sutton, Little Leigh and Lower Whitley. The others being St Peter, Aston-by-Sutton and St Luke, Lower Whitley. Until 31 May 2013, the three were separate parishes united in a benefice along with St Mark, Antrobus ^[2]

History

Originally in the parish of Great Budworth, an ancient chapel of ease in Little Leigh was fully rebuilt in 1712 and was described as "a mean building of brick, standing defenceless in the highway". The west end of the chapel was used as the village school until a separate building was completed in 1840. The old chapel stood in what is now the churchyard. The new church was built in 1879 to a design by Edmund Kirby.^[3]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in "fiery orange" brick with terracotta dressings. The roof is of Welsh slate with an orange tile ridge. The plan of the church consists of a four-bay nave with short transepts, a one-bay chancel, a south porch and a spire at the crossing. It is in Gothic style. The bays of the nave are divided alternately by buttresses and triangular-headed pilasters between which are paired lancet windows. The spire is a large flèche with wooden louvred bell-openings on each face. Above these are lucarnes, a lead finial and a weathercock.^[1]

Interior

The interior of the church is brick and terracotta throughout. In the chancel is a three-seat sedilia with a lancet above each seat.^[1] The reredos is by Jabez Thompson, and depicts the Last Supper in terracotta. The stained glass includes a mid-20th century window by Trena Cox. The authors of the Buildings of England series consider that the east window is over-large, but that it is also "very successful".^[4]

External features

The lychgate is dated 1882 and is listed at Grade II. It consists of open timber framing and a hipped Lakeland slate roof.^[5] The churchyard contains two neighbouring war graves of a soldier and an airman of World War II.^[6]

See also

• Listed buildings in Little Leigh
• List of works by Edmund Kirby

References