St. Michael and All Angels, Steventon, Berkshire

Description

The church of St. Michael and All Angels is a building of stone in the Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle and an embattled tower on the south side containing 6 bells: on the south side of the nave are two arches of unequal span, one Early English, the other Decorated; the tower arches are good Decorated, with richly moulded imposts and curious and rich carving; the windows are chiefly Decorated and Perpendicular; there is an unusually ornamented piscina in the chancel of the latter period, and stone sedilia in the south wall: the font is also Perpendicular: the east window is stained, and there are two memorial windows on the north side of the chancel to the Rev. William Harley M.A. ten years vicar of this parish, who died May 11th, 1870, and to two former members of the choir. There are two brasses, one in memory of the Wiseman family, of elaborate Elizabethan design, and one at the foot of the chancel steps in memory of the Do family, 1480, of Transition period, showing the rosary and hunting knife: there are about 300 sittings. In the churchyard is a stone cross, restored in 1836.

Church Records

The earliest register in possession of the parish dates from the year 1558 only, but there is an earlier register, dating from 1553 to 1559, now in the British Museum, and forming No. 2,395 in the Harleian collection of MSS.