St Michael's Church, Melksham

The Domesday Book in 1086 recorded a church at Melchesha.{{OpenDomesday|ST9063|melksham|Melksham}} In 1220 the living became a possession of the canonry of Salisbury Cathedral, continuing to the present day.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 7 pp91-121 – Parishes: Melksham|editor-first1=R.B.|editor-last1=Pugh|editor-first2=Elizabeth|editor-last2=Crittall| author-first1=H.F.|author-last1=Chettle| author-first2=W.R.|author-last2=Powell| author-first3=P.A.|author-last3=Spalding| author-first4=P.M.|author-last4=Tillott| url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol7/pp91-121|publisher=University of London|year=1953|access-date=27 March 2019}}

The church has a chancel and five-bay nave, with north and south aisles and north and south chapels, and a west tower.

Pevsner wrote: "... it is a big church, and so it is all the more remarkable that its Norman predecessor was just as big."{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |authorlink1=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Cherry |first2=Bridget (revision) |year=1975 |origyear=1963 |title=Wiltshire |series=The Buildings of England |edition=2nd |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-0710-26-4 |pages=342–343}} The chancel dates from the 12th century, evidenced externally by a string course decorated with cylindrical billet, and internally by the outlines of decorative arcades on the north and south walls, together with a remnant of an arch in the northeast corner.{{cite web|title=St Michael and All Angels, Melksham, Wiltshire|website=Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture|publisher=King's College London|url=http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/2874/|access-date=27 March 2019}}

The church was enlarged in the 14th century, and in the mid-15th a clerestory was inserted and a chapel was added on the south side of the chancel. The Lady Chapel was built later that century at the east end of the south aisle, and was linked to the holders of the manor, at that time the Brounckers; the chapel was refitted in 1909.

Extensive remodelling in 1845 by T.H. Wyatt included moving the four-stage 16th-century tower from the crossing to the west end, and adding a vestry and chapel on the north side. In 1881 the chancel was restored. The fine carved limestone reredos of 1894 is by C.E. Ponting, and the carved oak chancel screen is of the same date. Stained glass in the nave and chancel is by Ward and Hughes, 1884, and the Lady Chapel has glass of 1897 by Kempe.

The eight bells in the tower were recast by John Taylor & Co in 1924.{{cite web|title=Melksham, St Michael & All Angels|url=http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=MELKSHAM|website=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers|access-date=27 March 2019}}

A chest tomb from the early 19th century is Grade II* listed;{{National Heritage List for England|num=1021708|desc=Turner memorial|access-date=30 March 2019|fewer-links=yes}} many further tombs and memorials are Grade II listed.

From the 13th century, chapelries of Melksham were at Seend and Erlestoke, the latter some seven miles distant; for a short time from the 14th century there was another at Shaw. Each of these places gained their own parishes in the 19th century.{{London Gazette | issue = 23973 | date = 6 May 1873 | pages = 2242-2245 }}

Chapels of ease were built in the northern Forest area of Melksham (St Andrew, 1876){{National Heritage List for England|num=1286098|desc=Church of St Andrew|access-date=27 March 2019|fewer-links=yes}} and at Beanacre, now in Melksham Without civil parish (St Barnabas, 1886; the 14th-century stone font came from St Michael's).{{National Heritage List for England|num=1285597|desc=Church of St Barnabas|access-date=27 March 2019|fewer-links=yes}} Today these two churches, together with St Michael's, are served by the Melksham Team Ministry.{{cite web|title=Melksham: St Michael & All Angels|url=https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/9648/more-information/|website=A Church Near You|date=|access-date=27 March 2019}}

In 1954, the southernmost part of Melksham parish, namely the area south of the Devizes branch line, was transferred to the parish of Steeple Ashton with Semington.{{London Gazette | issue = 40267 | date = 31 August 1954 | page = 5021 }}

• Bohun Fox, vicar 1697–1750, author of two anti-Quaker pamphlets (1707);{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bibliothecaanti00smitgoog|title=Bibliotheca Anti-Quakeriana, Or, A Catalogue of Books Adverse to the Society of Friends|author=Joseph Smith|publisher=Joseph Smith|year=1873|page=[https://archive.org/details/bibliothecaanti00smitgoog/page/n205 191]}} founded and endowed a school for poor boys.{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/411|title=Fox's Charity School, Melksham|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=30 March 2019}} His charity continued beyond 1953 but is no longer extant.
• Robert Martineau, curate 1938–1941, later Bishop of Huntingdon and Bishop of Blackburn
• Hugh Dickinson, curate c.1957, later Dean of Salisbury

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{Commons category-inline}}
• {{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Melksham|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/317|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=27 March 2019}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melksham, Saint Michael}}

Category:Church of England church buildings in Wiltshire

Category:Grade II* listed churches in Wiltshire

Saint Michael