St Michael and All Angels

The Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels

Our Priest is Rev. Julie Read.  You can e-mail her by clicking here.  Telephone 07826 194400

The church has Facebook pages where you can keep up to date with the latest  information. Please click here  for Kingsland Church and  by clicking here see Mortimers Cross Churches, the  page covering Kingsland, Eardisland, Aymestrey and Leinthall Earls Churches


LATEST EVENTS – 2024

 


 

St Michael and All Angels and “Eco Church”

Eco Church is a project run in partnership with Christian Aid, The Church of England, The Methodist Church, Tearfund, The United Reformed Church and Allchurches Trust Limited.

The project is designed to enable us to express how we care for God’s World in worship and teaching; in how we look after the church and its land; in how we engage with our local community, and in the personal lifestyles of our congregation and community.

In 2021 St Michael and All Angels Church completed the unique online Eco Survey describing how we are caring for different areas of life and work. The answers we provided collected points towards an Eco Church Award; the more we were able to demonstrate that we do, the more points we got! We submitted the results of our survey, and we were awarded an Eco Church Bronze Award.

Not satisfied with a bronze award we decided in 2022 to update the answers we gave in 2021 to reflect changes we have made at the Church following Covid and completion of the restoration project.  We submitted the results of our updated survey in November and have gained a Silver Award!

The PCC at St Michael and All Angels would like to encourage the Kingsland community to help us care for God’s World in the following ways:

Where possible walking or cycling to church services and events promoted by Church,

Reducing their personal energy consumption, not difficult in today’s world!

Limiting waste by adhering to the principles of reduce, re-use, recycle,

Personal use and consumption of Fairtrade and/or ethically sourced goods,

Use food at home that is LOAF (Locally grown, Organic, Animal-friendly, Fairtrade),

Where possible ethical investment of personal savings.

Protecting flora and fauna in the Churchyard, cemetery, our gardens, farmland, and the countryside.

Richard Harris – Eco Church Coordinator


Kingsland Primary School Hard Hat Tour of the Church October 2021

Did you know there are over 400,000 listed buildings in England and so it is very important that young people train for the specialised skills needed to preserve and restore our English heritage.

This month all the children from Kingsland CE Primary School visited

St Michaels and All Angels Church and learnt all about the traditional craft skills of being a stonemason and thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on experience of carving and sanding the stone.

THANK YOU so much to the dedicated construction and renovation team from Treasure & Sons who made sure that the Church was ready for over 150 children to take part in the Hard Hat Tours!

Floors were moped, tools packed away and areas were marked with safety tape and the utmost care and pride was shown by all the building team.

Many thanks to Phil, Ryan, Paul, Stewart, Brian, Tony and Brad…you all did an amazing job!

A BIG thank you also to our WONDERFUL team of volunteers who helped the children from Kingsland CE Primary School learn all about the fascinating history of the church and the wildlife conservation projects in the churchyard.

We want every child to be inspired by their local heritage and our Hard Hat Tours aimed to help school children develop an understanding of the specialised skills needed to preserve and restore our historic 700 year old church.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is proud to be supporting this renovation project for St Michael & All Angels Church.

 


Sheep delivery to the church!

More good news with a delivery of sheep for the church nativity set made by the Kingsland Knit and Natter group!

 


HISTORY

The  Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels has been the centre of Christian worship in Kingsland, Herefordshire for many centuries. Its large size reflects the importance of Kingsland as a settlement in the Middle Ages. The present building, erected between 1290 and 1310 by the Mortimers, incorporates two narrow lancet windows from an earlier church. They are now blocked up but must have originally served as the east windows of the aisles. One can be seen from the southern exterior of the chancel, the other is hidden inside the organ chamber.

The church consists of a nave, two aisles (which terminate in the chapels of Christ The King and of Our Lady), a chancel, vestry, organ chamber and west tower (heightened in the 15th century), and is today substantially as the builders left it.

Churches-Volka-Chapel-downloadThe church is entered by the north porch. Opening off the north porch is the Volka chapel – a unique feature of the church – probably built as a chantry in which masses could be said for the soul of an early benefactor or for those killed in the battle of Mortimer’s Cross. The chapel contains an open stone coffin which is said to have had in it the bones of a woman and child when opened in 1826. The 15th century south porch was in 1980 converted into a kitchen and WC.

The nave has a 14th or 15th century king-post roof supported on pillars of unusual and interesting design, and there is a clerestory of round windows. The painted chancel roof dates from the 1866-1868 restoration of the church by G.F. Bodley. He also installed the present pulpit, lectern, choir stalls and pews, together with a stone screen, which has since been removed. Prior to the restoration the nave was ceiled. The encaustic tiles in the chancel are by Mr. Godwin.

The internal furnishings of the church include a 14th century octagonal font, 17th century doors to the tower and the vestry, a cartoon of the Crucifixion, the design for a stained glass window in Bucklebury Church, Berkshire, by Sir Frank Brangwyn R.A. (1867-1956) in the Chapel of Our Lady, and a number of mural memorials

Churches-gargoyleExternal features of note are the cusped or traceried panelling on the outerfaces of the tower buttresses, the gargoyles at the parapet of the tower, the stone heads in niches at the base of the tower, the 14th  century tomb recess in the outer wall of the vestry and the sanctus bellcote on the chancel gable. The bell-cote contains a bell of 1801, placed there in 1979.

churches-scractch-dialsOn the south side of the chancel door are 2 scratch dials – used to indicate times of services (these are just about still visible – carved into the stonework to the left of the door).

There is a comprehensive booklet of the interesting history of the church available from the church.

 

 


Click the titles below to read the sad story of the Gethin family who have so many graves in Kingsland churchyard :

Gethin Family Tragedy

See also Benefice of Kingsland with Eardisland, Aymestry & Leinthall Earles (Parish Profile, Spring 2013)