| Location: | South Grove Highgate London N6 6BJ | ||||||||||
| Country: | England | ||||||||||
| Denomination: | Anglican | ||||||||||
| Website: | St Michael's Highgate | ||||||||||
| Status: | Parish church | ||||||||||
| Functional Status: | Active | ||||||||||
| Heritage Designation: | Grade II* | ||||||||||
| Designated Date: | 8 November 1982 | ||||||||||
| Architect: | Lewis Vulliamy | ||||||||||
| Architectural Type: | Church | ||||||||||
| Style: | Neo-Gothic | ||||||||||
| Construction Cost: | £8,171 | ||||||||||
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St Michael's Church or Church of St Michael, commonly referred to as St Michael's Highgate, is an Anglican parish church in Highgate, North London and a Grade II* listed building. It is the highest elevated church in London.
There are records dating back to the twelfth century of a small hermitage chapel at the top of Highgate Hill.[1] It closed in 1539 during the dissolution of monasteries and was acquired by Sir Roger Cholmeley, who used the site for his new school with permission from Elizabeth I in 1565. A brick school chapel was built from 1576, which would serve as a parish church for Highgate residents for 250 years. An adjoining burial ground was consecrated for interments in 1617,[2] and a preacher was appointed in 1637.[3]
By the early 19th-century, the school chapel was in need of repairs and expansion to accommodate the growing local population. In 1822, a bill was put before Parliament to allow school governors to demolish and replace the chapel, but after years of fierce opposition and legal challenges, the bill was struck down; the church would have to be built on a different site.[1] On the site of the derelict Ashurst House (demolished 1830) with support from the school governors, St Michael's Church was built over eleven months, designed in the Neo-Gothic style by Lewis Vulliamy at the relatively inexpensive cost of £8,171. It went unused for ninth months due to a peculiar legal issue regarding its location on land from the Parish of St Pancras. After an act of Parliament resolved the issue, the church was officially consecrated on 8 November 1982. The Parish of St Michael was established in 1834.[1]
The original organ was installed in 1842, and the pulpit in 1848. Choir practices began in 1865. The old burial ground remained in use by St Michael's, but was closed to new interments in 1857 barring special applications.[1]
The church underwent renovations and extensions in 1880 by George Edmund Street and 1903 by Temple Moore. It was damaged by a bomb in 1944. Restoration on the building began in 1946, and it received its Grade II* listed status on 29 June 1954.[4] Evie Hone contributed to the church's new stained glass windows.[5]
The church stands on the periphery of Highgate Cemetery. The spire forms a landmark skyline with Witanhurst, which can be viewed from Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill in particular.[6]
Edmund Grindal and Sir Roger Cholmeley's coats of arms are carved into the West door's corbels.[1]
Some bricks and other remains of Ashurst House are still visible.[7]
Beneath the church is a 17th-century wine cellar. In 2018, the burial site of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his family was under covered.[8] The poet has a plaque.[9]