St Michael's Church, Coppenhall Explained


St Michael's Church, Coppenhall
Pushpin Map:Cheshire
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Map Caption:Location in Cheshire
Location:Crewe, Cheshire
Country:England
Coordinates:53.106°N -2.4474°W
Osgraw:SJ 702 566
Denomination:Anglican
Churchmanship:Catholic
Membership:Society of St Wilfrid and Hilda https://www.sswsh.com/index.php
Website:St Michael, Coppenhall
Founded Date:c.
Dedication:Saint Michael
Status:Parish church
Functional Status:Active
Heritage Designation:Grade II
Designated Date:14 June 1984
Architect:James Brooks
J. Brooks, Son & Adkins
Architectural Type:Church
Groundbreaking:1883
Completed Date:1910
Materials:Red brick with slate roofs
Copper-covered flèche
Parish:Coppenhall
Deanery:Nantwich
Archdeaconry:Macclesfield
Diocese:Chester
Province:York
Bishop:Glyn Webster Assistant Bishop Chester
Rector:Fr. John Xavier Leal SSC
Warden:Sandra Hough
Shirley Oakes

St Michael's Church is in the Coppenhall area of Crewe, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Nantwich.

History

A timber-framed church was built on the site around 1373. The structure of the present church dates from 1883 to 1886 when the chancel was built to a design by James Brooks. The nave was added to a design by J. Brooks, Son and Adkins in 1907–10.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red brick with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, transepts and a chancel with an organ to its north and a chapel to its south. Over the crossing is a copper-covered flèche. The church is built on a blue brick plinth and has a stone cill band and stone lancet windows.

Interior

To the west of the church is the baptistery which contains a marble font with an oak crocketted cover. The reredos is painted in the style of an icon. The pulpit is of oak. On the walls are alabaster memorials and timber Stations of the Cross. The three-manual organ was built around 1900 by Forster and Andrews, and rebuilt in 1977 with alterations, by Sixsmith. The organ was rebuilt in 2017, again by Sixsmith, taking the opportunity to remove any asbestos in the structure.

External features

The churchyard contains the double war grave of the twin Villiers-Russell brothers, Senior Sick Berth Attendants of the Royal Navy Auxiliary Reserve, who died in the torpedoing of HMS Formidable during World War I, in 1915.

See also