St Michael, Barton
St Michael, Barton
St Michael’s is a Grade I parish church at Barton, Cumbria, in the Diocese of Carlisle. It stands in a circular churchyard and has the only central Norman tower on a medieval church in Cumbria.
- Location
- Barton, Cumbria
- Country
- England
- County
- Cumbria
- City / town
- Barton
- Address
- Barton, Cumbria, CA10 2LR
- Postcode
- CA10 2LR
- Built
- C12 nave and central tower; aisles C13–c.1300; chancel lengthened C14
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Michael
- Diocese
- Carlisle
- Parish
- Barton
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Norman and Gothic; central tower
- Materials
- Local sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings and ashlar; slate roofs
- Grid reference
- NY 488 264
- Opening hours
- The church is never locked.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
Wikipedia and the listing record a twelfth-century nave and central tower, a mid-thirteenth-century south aisle and arcade, a north aisle and south chapel of about 1300, and a fourteenth-century lengthening of the chancel. The south porch was repaired in 1699; a nineteenth-century stable north of the tower is now a vestry; the nave roof was installed in 1904. The fabric is stone with slate roofs. The squat tower has paired bell openings and a plain parapet. The porch gable bears the Lowther (or Lancaster) arms.
Norman features include the north doorway and the arcades. The east and west tower arches are double: a narrow Norman arch above a wider segmental arch. The font is medieval, with a large octagonal bowl. Communion rails are seventeenth-century. East glass of 1913 is by C. E. Kempe; the west window is by Hardman. Royal Arms dated 1730 survive. Twelve churchyard monuments are listed Grade II.