St Michael's Church, Longstanton, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands at the south end of the village. The design of St Michael's was used for that of the Church of St. James the Less in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1846, and was influential in the design of other churches in the American Gothic Revival.

History

Most of the church dates from the early 13th century. The west wall was rebuilt in the 15th century when two large buttresses and a west window were added. The south porch was built in the earlier part of the same century. In the 19th century the chancel was being used as a schoolroom and was screened from the nave by a curtain. The chancel was demolished in 1883 and rebuilt the following year at a cost of £600 (£53,000 as of 2014). Its details were copied with care from the 13th-century design. In 1889 the nave was restored at a cost of £350 (£33,000 as of 2014). The parish of St Michael's was united with that of All Saints in 1958. The two bells in the bellcote were stolen in 1969. St Michael's church was declared redundant in 1973 and vested in the Redundant Churches Fund (the forerunners of the Churches Conservation Trust) in 1975. The thatched roof was restored by the Trust in 2000.

Architecture

The church is constructed in fieldstone with Barnack limestone dressings. The roofs of the nave and the south porch are covered in reed thatch and the chancel is tiled. It is one of only two thatched churches in Cambridgeshire, the other being in the nearby village of Rampton. The plan consists of a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, and a chancel. On the west gable is a double bellcote. Against the west wall of the church are two four-stage buttresses between which is a two-light window. The windows elsewhere include three 19th-century lancets that probably replaced earlier similar windows. The north wall contains a doorway, and some ashlar stone suggesting the presence of earlier openings.

Inside the church, the arcades date from the 13th century, and are in four bays with arches carried on alternating round and octagonal columns. In the chancel is a double piscina with intersecting arches made from clunch. This said to be similar to the piscina in Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge.

External features

In the churchyard is a holy well. This was restored in the 1980s, and was dressed for the first time in September 1986.