The Church of St. Michael's Without is situated at the busy junction of Walcot Street and Broad Street. It was designed in the Early English style of Gothic architecture by the city architect C.P. Manners, who is said to have derived some of his inspiration from the ornamentation and general appearance of the Lady Chapel at Salisbury Cathedral.
The foundation stone of the present church (the fourth on the site) was laid on 21 April, 1835, and the church was consecrated on 4 January, 1837. By reason of its confined site, and the fact that the building is much larger than its predecessors, the church stands North and South, instead facing East in the direction of Jerusalem.
The present church stands on a site where religious worship has been carried on for many centuries. Walcot Street follows the course of the Roman Fosse Way and there are many traces of Roman settlement in the area. However, the first definite record that a church existed on the site is an entry, dated about 1180, in the monastic rolls of Bath Abbey, This states that a monk named Arnold was appointed as the church's Rector, and that as a fee for his office he had to pay the Prior one pound of wax annually.
Nothing more is known about the first church, nor why it was built in such a vulnerable place outside the city walls, nor why it was dedicated to St. Michael. It has been suggested that it may have been built around 973, when King Edgar was crowned in the Abbey, and that St. Michael was chosen as an appropriate patron saint to "guard" the main approach to Bath via the northern gate. But this can only be speculation.
The first church on the site appears to have fallen into decay, and the second was built between 1370 and 1400. Much of the wealth which made its construction possible may have come from the wool trade, which brought a great deal of prosperity to England at the time. Certainly Broad Street derives its name, not from its width, but from the busy colony of weavers who lived there, and the broad cloth they wove.
This building remained in existence for about three hundred and fifty years, and was the centre of a vigorous parochial life. The Churchwardens' Accounts date from the years 1349 to 1572. The series of registers of births, marriages and funerals began in 1569 and continue to the present day. These records are among the oldest in the country, and are of great interest to historians.
Among the religious processions and festivals which featured prominently in medieval parish life, it is interesting to note that St. Michael's was famous for its mystery plays, and some of the painted cloths used as scenery were held in stock. The Rectors were Benedictine monks, and the Rectory was situated somewhere in the area now occupied by the Hilton Car Park. They were evidently fairly independent, and one of them had a dispute with the Prior of the Abbey about the ringing of the church bells. Another one unfortunately became bankrupt! Those days had their darker side as well, and about 1450 a service was held to reconcile and bless the church 'lately polluted by the shedding of blood'.
The coming of the Reformation in the days of Henry VIII brought many changes to St. Michael's, especially at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1539 the Prior of Bath had to surrender his entire monastic establishment to the Crown, and the monks were pensioned off. The Abbey itself was stripped of its glass and metal ornaments, and even the lead from its roof. These were sold to merchants, and the building was then allowed to tall into decay. It was not completely restored until 1618.
In St. Michael's, the high altar and altars within the church dedicated to various saints were demolished, its holy pictures were sold, and its old Bible disposed of in the same way for six shillings and eight pence. St. Michael's did not, however, suffer from the same vandalism that ruined the Abbey. It was a parish church, and not the church only of the monks, as was the Abbey.
The last Rector appointed until the old dispensation in 1531 was a monk named William Fyscher. There is then a blank in the list until 1583, when the church came under the Rectors of Bath, so there must have been a long and uneasy interregnum. However, the records reveal that during this period St. Michael's continued as a church of no little importance in the life of the city. It received a legacy from Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor of England, and continued to maintain regular services, and to look after the upkeep of its property. Much of the local government of the parish was the responsibility of the Church Vestry, and a great deal of land in Broad Street, Walcot Street and even Stall Street was owned by the church. It was eventually, somewhat unscrupulously, taken over by the City Council, and this led to a long law-suit between the years 1734 and 1804, which the church eventually lost.
Apart from interesting individual entries in the registers, little further is known of this second church, despite such dramatic events as the Civil Wars of the 1640s, when defences were set up at the north gate. The building appears to have become dilapidated and too small for its congregation. An old print shows it as it was in 1731, with a square battlemented tower and a thatched roof, and a churchyard to the north.
Eventually it was suggested that the church should be rebuilt, and John Wood, the famous Georgian architect who built Queen Square, offered to design and build a replacement, on condition that he was supplied with the materials, and space was allowed in the new church for the pews of his tenants. In a Vestry meeting on 14 January, 1731, the parishioners construed his offer as a patronising slur and, much to his indignation, refused it. Instead the new building was designed by one of the churchwardens named John Harvey, a stone-cutter by trade, and it was consecrated in 1743.
As might be expected, the design was heavily criticised by John Wood. There were jibes that it was so ugly that a horse would refuse to be taken past it unless blind-folded! However, modern criticism has been rather kinder, and Sir James Lees-Milne, in his book 'Images of Bath', describes it as being 'a rather charming structure, neatly adapted to its site'.
This third church of St. Michael's is associated with several famous people. The parents of Robert Byron were married here, and the famous actress arid singer, Elizabeth Lonely, who eloped with the playwright Sheridan from the Royal Crescent - one of the most romantic stories of Georgian Bath - was baptised at St. Michael's.
Structural defects, perhaps justifying Wood's criticisms, and the fact that it had, like the previous church, become too small to cater for the growing population of the parish, led to the demolition of the building in 1835, and work began on the present church in the same year. The new church took nearly two years to build, and was consecrated on 4 January, 1837 at an impressive ceremony attended by the City's Mayor, aldermen and councillors, who had also been present when the foundation stone was laid.
Much of the credit for bringing about the construction of the new building is acknowledged to have been due to the energy and unwearied efforts of its curate, the Rev. John East. Under his leadership, the church widened its activities and opened a school in Broad Street which continued in being from 1841 until 1913. In 1843 St. Michaels became an independent parish with John East as its Rector - the first since the days of the Reformation. He remained at the church until his death in 1856, and is buried in the crypt.
The life of the church seems to have lost some momentum during the mid-nineteenth century, but parochial activity was revived under another energetic Rector, the Rev. H.J. Heard, who assumed office in 1894. (He was father to the novelist Gerald Heard). Such was his energy, and his skill as a mountaineer, that he was able personally to scale the spire and inspect damage done to it as a result of a heavy rainstorm! Much was done during his ministry to beautify the interior of the building. A great deal of the money for this work was given by a generous benefactor, Miss Ellen Taunton Little, who also bestowed upon the church the handsome and capacious hall in Walcot Street. (This hall was sold in 1990 and the proceeds used to renovate and re-order the crypt which now has a large hall, several meeting rooms and a kitchen, and is used extensively by the church). In his history of St.Michael's, written to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the present building, the Rev. H.C. McNeil mentions how the church gradually formed organisations for thrift, women's work, social meetings and entertainments. The clergy also encouraged the organisation of games and sports clubs.
Time has greatly altered the parish of St.Michael's since the present church was consecrated in 1837. The ratio of shops and offices to private buildings has considerably increased. The church itself was fortunate to survive unscathed during the Second World War, unlike many other churches in Bath. It was in fact a physical as well as a spiritual refuge, because the crypt became a large air-raid shelter.
In 1951 the parish was amalgamated with that of St. Paul's Church (now Holy Trinity, Queen Square) - hence the full name of St. Michael with St. Paul. But the majority of the present congregation live outside either parish, and the church's ministry is increasingly to those who work in the city centre in the daytime, and to those who visit Bath as tourists from all over Britain and the rest of the world.
The Church of St. Michael's Without is situated at the busy junction of Walcot Street and Broad Street. It was designed in the Early English style of Gothic architecture by the city architect C.P. Manners, who is said to have derived some of his inspiration from the ornamentation and general appearance of the Lady Chapel at Salisbury Cathedral.
eventually, somewhat unscrupulously, taken over by the City Council, and this led to a long law-suit between the years 1734 and 1804, which the church eventually lost.
