St. Michael's Church in Well, UK

During the last Heritage Days, we went to visit the church of St. Michael in Well, UK, near the Snape Castle Chapel. The church dates from 1300 and has some history attached to it.

The exterior is in great condition. It is quite similar to other churches found throughout the countryside.

St. Michael's in Well, UK

The rest of the church

Jacob and Lucy pose at the gate

The church yard has a wide variety of tombstones from many different eras. The church backs onto a trail. We saw a llama walk down the trail while we were there. We also saw a snail slowly sliding through the grassy graves.

A fenced-off tomb

The llama

Graveyard and church

The snail

After enjoying the sunshine we headed inside the church. Little did we know that a celebrity greeter was brought in for the day.

Um, Your Majesty?

To the left is the typical baptismal font. The carved top dates back to the 1400s and the sign said that the "radical, and somewhat insensitive, restoration and rebuild of the C19th [19th Century] not only altered its shape but also, sadly, destroyed all traces of medieval paintwork."

Baptismal Font

The nave is quite nice and has an ancient Roman floor mosaic display as well as a memorial to an early member of this particular church, John Milbanke.

Nave

Roman floor mosaic from a Roman villa in Mill Garth

Memorial to John Milbanke

On the other side of the church is a memorial to Lady Margaret Milbanke.

Lady Milbanke Memorial

One of the side altars has a nice reredos or altar piece that was discovered in the 1930s when one of the locals moved a heavy dresser in their kitchen and found it hidden away!

Kitchen reredos

At the front of the church, Lucy did the proper thing. The kids did ask to light candles, but none were available anywhere in the church.

"Dear Lord, please provide votive candles to this church. Amen."

Nearby is the tomb of Sir John Neville, last Baron Latimer of Snape. He died in 1577. The four shields on the bottom represent his four married daughters (Katherine, Dorothy, Lucy, and Elizabeth), though not all the shields have the husband's coat of arms on them.

Tomb of Sir John Neville

"Thus goes worldly glory"

Top of the tomb

Another typical monument in English churches is the memorial to the locals who died during the First World War. St. Michael's is no exception.

WWI Memorial

Many fine stained glass windows are found throughout the church.

Scenes of biblical youth

Warrior over Sir John Neville's tomb

Note crest above

On our way out, we noticed how nice the entrance was and took a last picture before heading home.

Main door into the church