Kingstone is a good sized village 6 miles SW of Hereford, with the church at its centre. St Michael’s can best be described as confusing. It has two parallel vessels, separately roofed, separated by a 3-bay 12thc arcade. Each has its own chancel, again separately roofed, and at the W end of the N vessel is a 14thc tower. In the present arrangement the S vessel, slightly wider than the N, is the nave and the N vessel the aisle, which makes the chancel on the N side a chapel. It seems possible that the present N aisle was originally an aisleless nave, to which a S aisle was added in the later 12thc. This would explain the position of the tower, but not the fact that the chancel is offset to the S to abut the chancel of the S vessel. The RCHME analysis, accepted by Pevsner and Brooks, is that the S vessel was originally an aisleless nave, and the fact that it has a 12thc S doorway supports this. This doorway is the only Romanesque feature of the church. The tower was rebuilt by Cottingham in 1848-51, and there was a complete restoration in 1889-90 by Nicholson and Son.

The manor was held by King Edward before the Conquest, and by King William in 1086. It was assessed at 4 hides, and contained a wood called Treville that rendered customary dues in venison. The tithes of the manor were held by Sainte-Marie de Cormeilles, and Ibert FitzTurold held 2 hides from the king as a manor.

The tall proportions of the S doorway suggest that it is probably early 12thc. The arcade must date from the 1170s or ‘80s, with 13thc arches. The font is of Breccia, roughly globular and highly polished. Pevsner compares it with Kilpeck, but its small size makes this unconvincing, and it is not recorded here.