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St Michael and All Angels, High Ercall, Shropshire

Location
(52°45′9″N, 2°36′10″W)
High Ercall
SJ 594 174
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Shropshire
now Telford and Wrekin
  • Barbara Zeitler
  • Barbara Zeitler
  • Ron Baxter
24 March 1999 (BZ), 24 August 2023 (RB)

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Description

High Ercall is a village about 7 miles NE of Shrewsbury, consisting of dwellings clustered around a minor crossroads. The church and Ercall Hall are in the village centre. St Michael's is an aisled church which is largely medieval, with extensive 17thc and 19thc restorations. The W tower is 14thc and the nave is from c. 1200. The nave arcade consists of three pointed arches on either side, which were restored in the 19thc, but some of capitals in nave arcade preserve their medieval form. The chancel is largely 14thc. The pointed chancel arch has 19thc capitals. The W tower arch is pointed, with carved L 12thc capitals. The L 11thc tympanum is immured above the N doorway in the interior. A 12thc statue is situated to the R of the S doorway in the interior. There is also a late 12thc/ early 13thc holy water stoup.

History

High Ercall is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. The church was probably built by Roger de Montgomery who gave it and its lands to the Abbey of SS Peter and Paul at Shrewsbury in 1090. The church was enlarged to its present size in c. 1200. The building was badly damaged in 1645 and extensively restored by G E Street in 1864/5. The marble font now at St Giles in Shrewsbury was removed at that time. First, it was taken to the Abbey at Shrewsbury from where it was transferred to St Giles at a later stage.

Features

Interior Features

Arches

Arcades

Interior Decoration

Miscellaneous

Loose Sculpture

Comments/Opinions

The statue to the R of the S doorway is said to have come from a small window in the tower where it was situated until the end of the 19thc. The statue is said to represent Edward the Confessor. The relief was probably a tomb slab. The reset tympanum has a Tree of Life motif similar to Dymock School work at e.g. Kempley and Newnham-on-Severn(Gloucs).

Bibliography

A. E. Everall, St Michael and All Angels, High Ercall, 11th Century Church, 1987.

Historic England Listed Building, English Heritage Legacy ID: 362082

J. Newman and N. Pevsner, Buildings of England: Shropshire, New Haven and London, 2006, 297-298.

N. Pevsner, Buildings of England: Shropshire, Harmondsworth 1958, 148-149.