St Mary and St Michael's Church, Great Urswick

St Mary and St Michael's Church, Great Urswick
St Mary and St Michael's Church, Great Urswick, from the east
St Mary and St Michael's Church, Great Urswick Location in Cumbria
Coordinates: 54°09′30″N 3°07′18″W / 54.1583°N 3.1218°W / 54.1583; -3.1218
OS grid reference	SD 268 742
Location	Great Urswick, Cumbria
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Mary and St Michael, Urswick
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	25 March 1970
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic
Specifications
Materials	Stone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	Urswick
Deanery	Furness
Archdeaconry	Westmorland and Furness
Diocese	Carlisle
Province	York
Clergy
Priest(s)	Revd Alex Armstrong

St Mary and St Michael's Church is in the village of Great Urswick, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Furness, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is united with those of St Cuthbert, Aldingham, St Matthew, Dendron, and St Michael, Rampside. These churches are part of a group known as the Low Furness Group of Parishes. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.

There is evidence that a church existed on the site before the Norman conquest, but the earliest parts of the present church are found in the lower part of the tower and in the chancel and date from the 13th century. The chancel was lengthened in the 14th century, and the nave and north vestry date from this period. The tower was also heightened around this time, and the interior of the roof is dated 1598. A west gallery was installed in 1828. Plaster was stripped from the internal walls in 1911. In 2011 the church was restored, and a new heating system installed.

The church is constructed in stone rubble with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with a south porch, a chancel with a north vestry, and a west tower. The tower is as wide as the nave, and has a west doorway with a pointed arch. Above the doorway is a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and a niche containing a sculpture of the Pietà. The three-light bell openings have louvres and straight heads. At the top of the tower is an embattled parapet. The walls of the tower are very thick, and contain a stairway inside the north wall. On the south side of the nave is a gabled porch with a round-headed doorway, over which is a quatrefoil. To the right of the porch are two-light Decorated windows, and a two-light mullioned window. On the north side are two-light straight-headed windows. The east window of the chancel has three lights. On the south side of the chancel are a lancet window, and a two-light Decorated window, and on the north side is a two-light Perpendicular window. The vestry has two-light windows on the east and west sides.