Beetham: St Michael & All Angels

Name:
Beetham: St Michael & All Angels
Record Type:
Church
Church code:
607201
Diocese:
Carlisle
Archdeaconry:
Westmorland & Furness
Parish:
Beetham

Statutory Designation Information

Listed Building?
This is a Grade I Listed Building
View more information about this Listed Building on the National Heritage List for England web site
Scheduled Monument?
There is no Scheduled Monument within the curtilage or precinct

National Park

The church is not in a National Park

Conservation Area

The church is in the following Conservation Area: Beetham

Heritage At Risk Status

On Heritage At Risk Register?
This church is not on the Heritage at Risk Register
 

Approximate Date

Approximate Date:
Medieval

Exterior Image

Exterior image of 607201  St. Michael and All Angels, Beetham
Caption:
Exterior image of 607201 St. Michael and All Angels, Beetham
Description:
Photograph of the exterior of St. Michael and All Angels, Beetham
Year / Date:
2016, August 05
Copyright:
This image is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence.
Originator:
Philip Platt (of geograph.org.uk)

Summary Description

Significance permeates the landscape, village, church and ground. The site has alleged Saxon associations with St Lioba, to whom this church was originally dedicated, possibly succeeding an earlier chantry chapel; internments in the nave in 1872 discovered foundation stones that could confirm this. There may also have been a chantry to St Osyth who, together with St Lioba and St Ethelburga, is commemorated in C19 glass in the north aisle. Similar excavations in 1835 found a hoard of C11 coins, so the C12 tower and south arcade are not the earliest survivals, just the earliest to remain upstanding. Thereafter, a once simple vessel expanded step by step in all directions (including up, with the slightly projecting, slightly oddly proportioned C16 bell stage added to the tower) to become a civic record of hallowed patronage. From early masons’ marks on the crude arcading to the fine carved oak of the chancel, and the many monuments filling every surface, the crib figures carved by German Prisoners of War in 1947 and the altar of 1999 – even the 1-hour orgy of Cromwellian violence in 1647 is there, defacing the C14 Beetham tomb and remedied by re-glazed medieval fragments; this is a chronology of a community.

Visiting and Facilities

The church is open for worship.
Work in progress - can you help?
 

Church Website

Church Website:
http://www.beethamstmichaelandallangels.co.uk

Sources and Further Information

Philip Platt (of geograph.org.uk) (2016, August 05) Exterior image of 607201 St. Michael and All Angels, Beetham [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Exterior image of 607201  St. Michael and All Angels, Beetham
CWGC (2016) Commonwealth War Graves Commission CWGC Unique File Reference Number: 1955 [Bibliography/Data]
Number of War Graves: 2
Church of England (2021) A Church Near You https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/12358/ [Digital Archive/Index]
View information on worship and access at this church
Church Buildings Council (2019) Church Bells 6 Bells [Archive/Index]
6 Bells
Dan Elsworth, Greenlane Archaeology Ltd (2023) St Michael & All Angels Beetham Church Archaeological Watching Brief [Digital Archive/Document]
St Michael & All Angels Beetham Church Archaeological Watching Brief