St Michael's Church, Whittington

St Michael's Church, Whittington
St Michael's Church, Whittington, from the south
St Michael's Church, Whittington Location in the City of Lancaster district
Coordinates: 54°10′51″N 2°36′54″W / 54.1808°N 2.6149°W / 54.1808; -2.6149
OS grid reference	SD 600,763
Location	Whittington, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Michael, Whittington
History
Dedication	Saint Michael the Archangel
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	4 October 1967
Architect(s)	Paley and Austin (1875 rebuilding)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic, Gothic Revival
Completed	1875
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, slate roofs
Administration
Parish	Whittington
Deanery	Tunstall
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Iain H. Rennie
Laity
Reader(s)	Robin McIlveen
Churchwarden(s)	Christopher Tomkins, Anne Pettifor
Parish administrator	Lisa Tamlin

St Michael's Church is located in the settlement of Whittington, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Tunstall, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is united with those of St John the Evangelist, Gressingham, St Margaret, Hornby, and St John the Baptist, Arkholme. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

The church stands within the bailey of a former castle. It is thought that a church has been on this site since 1200. The oldest part of the present church is the tower, which dates from the early 16th century. The rest of the church was largely rebuilt in 1875 by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin. Its cost was met mainly by Colonel D. C. Greene of nearby Whittington Hall.

St Michael's is constructed in sandstone rubble with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a south porch, a single-bay chancel with an organ chamber and vestry to the north, and a west tower. The tower has diagonal buttresses, and an embattled parapet. It contains a west doorway, above which is a three-light window. In the south wall of the tower are re-set fragments of stone carved with chevrons. The bell openings have three lights. Along the south aisle are a timber porch, three three-light windows containing Perpendicular tracery and, leading into the chancel, a doorway. The clerestory windows consist of four windows with square surrounds, pierced alternatively with quatrefoils and circles. The north aisle has two windows, and the clerestory is similar to the south side. At the east end are buttresses and a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery.