The present Church replaced an earlier church whose date of construction is uncertain but which was partially rebuilt in 1776.
The Old Church was built on the site of a still older Treen Church and burial ground (probably the most important of several Treens in the parish as many traces of early Christian burials have been found in the ground) and burial ground, and the name given to the surrounding ground was Cronk-y-Keillig – ‘the hill of the church enclosure’.
The position of the Church, unlike may old parish churches on the Island, is in the centre of the Village and population, and is situated on the Treen of Lyre, the headman or cheftian of this treen or tribal division being the leading chieftain of the parish, and probably of a very large district to the north of present parish boundary.
The church would have existed in the twelfth century stood in the centre of the village and of the ancient burial ground, being surrounded on three sides by the Vicar’s ancient glebe and clerk’s glebe land.
The church was a small rectangular building, with a tower at the west end and a gallery, the admission to which was from the tower. The site of the old Church is marked today by a remaining portion of the chancel wall, near to which is the tomb of the famous Bishop Wilson. In this portion of chancel wall is a tablet stating that Dr. Thomas Wilson (a Son of Bishop Wilson) rebuilt the chancel of the old Church in 1776.
In 1834, under the provisions of the Michael Church Act of Tynwald, the Vicar, Wardens and Sidesmen were empowered – taking into account the poor state of the existing building – by resolution of a Special Vestry Meeting held on July 19th, 1833, to erect a new Church on the Vicar’s glebe.
The modern Church stands in the centre of the village and was to allow a pew for each quarterland, and a pew or pews in the accustomed proportion for each intack, mill and cottage within the parish (the modern Church with pews of 8 feet in length is large enough to accommodate 650 worshipers). The money needed to complete the building and furnishing of the nave was to be ‘borne and paid for by several proprietors of the quaterlands, intacks, mills and cottages within the parish by a fair and equal assessment amounting to and not exceeding £10 British for each quarterland, to be made levied and raised in the said Act of Vestry’. It is, however, understood that about half of the money came from the Church Building Fund raised by Bishop Ward (Bishop 1828-1838) during a tour of England when he appealed for support for the poor Manx Church.
The cost of building the chancel was also probably borne by Bishop Ward’s Fund, but originally the cost of repairing the chancel was a charge on the impropriate tithes of the parish, which had been purchased in 1774 by Dr. Thomas Wilson from the Duke of Athol. A parcel of ground called Corneil-y-Killagh – ‘the corner of the church’ was bought from John Rodgers and conveyed to the Vicar in lieu of his ancient glebe.
The plans for the church, which provided for the addition of a gallery if necessary, were drawn by Mr. John Welch, an architect from Birmingham. The design is rather heavy type of pinnacle and buttressed Gothic cruciform in the shape with a large tower at the West end. The building is of random Manx slate, with a rendering of sand-coloured (ochre) cement, and the roof covered with Welsh slate. Construction was completed in 1836, and the Church was consecrated by Bishop Ward. The dedication is to St. Michael an All Angels, the date of the patronal festival being 29th September.
Internally, the walls have pine dados to the height of five feet and are plastered above, except for the sanctuary, which is contained within a small half octagonal apse. Much of the sanctuary and chancel furniture was made by Mr. J D Kelly, a very able wood-carver who lived and worked in Michael. Examples of his work are to be found in many Manx churches, and also overseas, where Manxmen have emigrated.
The reredos consists of five panels, the centre one of which is the largest, containing an ecclesiastical monogram wrought in oak on a gold background. The other four panels representing the four evangelists are painted in oil colours, also on a gold background, and are the work of Mrs. Morris, the wife of a former Vicar.
In 1973, under the supervision of Mr. D McIntyre, formerly architect to Durham Cathedral, the communion table, made of oak, grown on Bishop’s Court, was moved forward to become the first free-standing altar in the Island. A silver chalice in use at the Church was donated by Dr. Thomas Wilson and is accounted to be a fine example of the silversmith’s craft of the period. A matching paten given by Bishop Hildesley in 1758.
The centre light, in the sanctuary, the reredos and the wainscoting were erected in 1898 to the memory of the late Joseph Mylchreest, of the White House, by his Widow. The two side lights and the brass plaque were installed in 1913 by the executors of the late Mrs. Walker, are in memory of the Gell family (Captain Gell of the White House).
The clock in the tower was presented to the parish by Bishop Bardsley in 1887, and a Brass plaque over the Bishop’s pew records this fact. The War Memorial Tablet of Sicilian marble on the north wall of the nave was originally erected in 1922. On it are inscribed the names of those parishioners who fell during the two World Wars.
The greatest treasures of Kirk Michael Parish Church are the cross-slabs dating possibly from the 7th to 11th centuries, found in various burial-places in the parish, though most are from the vicinity of the church. After being gathered together from their original sites, the crosses and slabs were first assembled inside the handsome lychgate at the entrance of the Churchyard. This was opened in 1907 by Lady Raglan, the wife of the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man.
Owing, however, to their overcrowding in such a confined space and the fact that some of the crosses showed slight but discernable signs of weathering and defacement, they were later moved, with the co-operation of the Vicar and Wardens, by the Manx Museum Trustees, to their present position in the northeast transept of the Church.
Source: (
visit link)
Source: St Michael’s Church and it cross-slabs – (an information leaflet available in the Church with unknown authorship)
Source: An Introduction to the Architecture of the Isle of Man by Patricia Tutt (ISBN 978-1-907945-10-6)