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	St Michael and All Angels
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 Richard Diggle
Laity
Churchwarden(s)	Anne Antrobus, Jean Porter

St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Leigh, is in the village of Little Leigh, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a 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. Its benefice is united with those of St Peter, Aston, St Mark, Antrobus, and St Luke, Lower Whitley.^[2]

History

The church was built in 1879 to a design by Edmund Kirby. Before the church was built, a chapel stood in what is now the churchyard.^[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 Kirby, 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 comment that it is also "very successful".^[4]

External features

The lychgate is dated 1882 and is listed Grade II. It consists of open timber framing and a hipped Lakeland slate roof.^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Church of St Michael and All Angels, Little Leigh", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1228367, retrieved 6 May 2011 
2. ^ St Michael & All Angels, Little Leigh, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/little-leigh-st-michael-all-angels/, retrieved 13 January 2011 
3. ^ Little Leigh Chapel, LittleLeigh.net, http://www.littleleigh.net/history/church.htm, retrieved 26 January 2008 
4. ^ Hartwell, Claire; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6 
5. ^ "Lychgate to St Michael's churchyard, Little Leigh", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1228449, retrieved 6 May 2011