St Michael’s Past Present and Future
St Michael’s -
The Church is Grade 2* listed.
Richards describes the church
as "the one building, in a
depressing town, which is
mellow and dignified". That
might be overstating things
somewhat but Pevsner
describes the Church as
“impressive”.
There has been a Church on
this site since the middle of the
twelfth century, but the only remains of that building are the two easternmost pillars on each side of the nave, which show very clearly the transition from Norman to early English style.
The chancel and the nave were rebuilt in the early fourteenth century, so the Church is mainly perpendicular in style. The fine carved capitals of the octagonal nave piers are considered particular worthy of note.
The Tower, the nave clerestory, the two storey porch and the Lady Chapel at the east end of the south aisle were all added in the fifteenth century. While the Bostock (otherwise known as the Kinderton) Chapel was built by Baron Kinderton in the sixteenth century.
The timber roof of the chancel was originally built by Sir William Brereton in 1621 and then replaced by a new copy of the original design in 1951.
The oldest monument in the Church is found on the wall in what is currently the Vicar’s vestry, in memory of Elizabeth Venables the wife of the then Baron Kinderton, and dated 1591.
There are parish registers dating back to 1604 and Church wardens registers dating to 1636. The oldest Church plate 1609. Four of the eight bells in the Tower have a date of 1711.
Please note that all registers are held by the Cheshire Records Office in Chester and any enquiries about family history before 1995 should be directed to the records office direct.
The fabric has suffered greatly at the hands of both friend and foe. In 1642/3 during the English Civil War battles took place in and around the building. Overall the Royalists were routed by the Parliamentarians and it is believed over 200 people died in two battles. The scars of battle can still be seen in the walls of the Church.
The panels of the choir stalls and the chancel screen have nice carvings mounted on them thought to be Flemish in origin.
But the piece de resistance is the carved Jacobean screen with the carved arms of the Venables family dates 1632. These are currently located under the Tower, but it is hoped at some stage to bring them out and place them in the main body of the Church. The Venables family crest depicted a dragon with a baby in its Jaws. The legend says that during the Middle Ages the people of Moston were terrorised by a dragon that lived in Bache pool. Thomas Venables, then went out and shot an arrow into the beasts eye just as it was about to devour a child. The wound not proving fatal, Thomas “with other weapons manfullie slew him!”
Since the Rev Ian Bishop moved to Middlewich in 2001 the Church has tried to develop and grow under the direction and guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.
The Church has agreed five values against which everything that happens is measured. These are
All Involved
Becoming Disciples
Creating Community
Doing Evangelism
Encountering God.
All Involved –
Because we believe that as the Body of Christ we function better when every member of the Church plays their part.
Becoming Disciples –
Because we believe that God calls us all to be learners. Therefore we encourage personal and group study of scripture and personal and corporate prayer.
Creating Community –
Because we believe in developing a sense of family in the Church, with good friendships and excellent support networks.
Doing Evangelism –
Because we believe God calls us to share our faith in the one true God
Encountering God –
Because we believe God is real and wants us to encounter him.
In recent years we have taken part in the Natural Church Development project. This involves seeking excellence in eight different parts of Church life.
Empowering Leadership
We have sought to develop a leadership structure and strategy that can facilitate growth. Several people have been enabled to take on significant leadership roles in the Church and we believe in the principle of growing new leaders.
Gift Orientated Ministry
We want people to be in the right ministries and to be properly trained to carry them out. We are committed to providing the best training we can.
Passionate Spirituality
We espouse an orthodox faith lived out in an enthusiastic way. We want people to be “on fire” in their faith. We hope people have an exciting prayer life encouraged through daily prayer in Church at 9.15 am and 6.00 am on Mondays. We want people to enjoy reading scripture and feeling like God is speaking to them
Functional Structures
We want to have structures, both physically (our buildings) and administratively (our committees and working groups etc) which facilitate growth. As we grow we are appointing “departmental heads” to oversee certain aspects of Church life.
Inspiring Worship Services
Given that we are the only Anglican Church in Middlewich we are committed to providing a broad experience of Anglican worship. We have BCP at 8 am, Common Worship sung eucharist with a robed choir at 9.15 am, exuberant All Age worship at 11 am and BCP Evensong once a month and charismatic praise twice a month. The common factor is that all sermons seek to be biblically based and all our worship needs to be well done. There is probably something for everyone at St Michael’s. We also require all our Church members to be generous to those who prefer to worship in a different way.
Holistic Small Groups
We have developed eight Cell groups to date that are the pillars of Church growth. We are encouraging everyone to be involved. Our Mothers Union also acts like a Cell Group. They engage with scripture, care for each other, worship together and we hope grow and multiply.
We also run small Alpha groups, Christianity Explored, Doorways and Growing Leaders because an effective discipleship programme is essential.
Need Orientated Evangelism
We consider the best evangelism to be relational. That means meeting people at their point of need and bringing them the hope of the gospel.
Loving Relationships
We hope St Michael’s is a warm, welcoming, caring and supportive fellowship.
If you drop in on us we hope you’ll see a friendly and hospitable face. You won’t find us too dry – we tend to laugh a lot, mainly because the Vicar has got it wrong again!!
Our vision is simply to do what we are doing – just better. Our vision is to improve the eight identified quality characteristics year by year to become an excellent Church. With this in mind we want great facilities, a growing Church, a learning Church and a committed Church.
We are committed to improving our performance, committed to prayer, committed to seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We acknowledge that we won’t always get things right but we’ll keep on trying.
Why don’t you come and help us?
