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St Michael

St Michael

Cowthorpe

North Yorkshire

1456-58 for Sir Bryan Roucliffe, C19 restoration.

Architectural Features

Interior: C17 altar rail of oak with cup-and-vase balusters, square-section standards and knob finials.

Early C19 panelling at the west end of the nave appears to be the remains of pulpit and reading desk and now screens the bell ropes.

Original fittings include the font, also at the west end of the nave, with an octagonal base, cruciform stem and square bowl carved with tracery and shields of Roucliffe, Hammerton, Roos and Plompton.

Remains of the original heraldic stained glass in several windows.

On the north wall of the chancel the remains of a brass memorial to the founder (d1494) and his wife Joan Hammerton, are attached to a marble slab.

In Feb 1456 the Archbishop of York granted Bryan permission to build the new church to replace an old chapel near the River Nidd, some of the sandstone blocks in the new church possibly coming from it.

The brass memorial was stolen from the church c1850 and the recovered parts mounted in 1886