After the Conquest, the Normans began a programme to provide every English parish with a stone built centre of worship. Yet of all the 6,000 churches that were thereby begun, only three now retain any abundant evidence of the Norman style; those of Studland, in Dorset, Iffley, in Oxfordshire, and Stewkley, which, built around 1150, is the finest and least altered. In fact the characteristics of Norman architecture are amply displayed in the thickness of the walls, the low, squat tower, the round headed doors and windows, and the copious carvings of the typically bold and regular designs. Albeit now mounted on a more recent base even the Norman font remains, and here William Stappe would have been baptised ‘on Xxij Decebr’ 1545, with his being the first entry to appear in the church registers. Externally, one of the most notable of the architectural features is the triple arched west door, and in the space between the top of the door and the upper archway may be seen a ‘tympanum’, carved with dragons. Also externally, around the walls of the church the length of simple ornamented carving, that runs below the window line, is known as a ‘stringcourse’, and another, which maintains continuity by arching above the doorways, is to be seen inside the building. However, perhaps the most notable of the internal features is the chancel arch, which spans a distance of some fourteen feet. Here, as approached from the nave, no less than thirty seven ‘beak head’ carvings gaze bemusedly down, (including a trinity of monkey faces!), and, being typically Norman, they are so named because of their distinctive shape. As applied to the chancel arch their purpose was to deliberately draw a visual attention from the nave, as the preserve of the congregation, towards the more holy confines of the sanctuary, and for a similar reason the windows of the nave have a single row of chevron moulding, whilst those of the choir and sanctuary are endowed with two. For safety reasons, in recent times the immense weight of the stone vaulting in the chancel roof was removed, although the replacement structure of brick left the original Norman ribs, (decorated with a double chevron, or lozenge design), intact. Then in February 1862 a meeting of the parishioners was called to decide the question of restoring the church, and the vicar promised that if the parish could raise £300, then he would provide the remainder. This was agreed, and with £200 raised by the levy of two rates, a further £100 would be acquired by subscription. Plans for the restoration were then prepared by the Diocesan architect, G.E. Street, such that ‘when completed, this will be one of the most chaste and pure Norman churches in England.’ In fact architectural sanity remains indebted to Mr. Street, for having resisted a proposal by the vicar to enlarge the building. This would have brutalised the Norman proportions, and in any case the problems regarding accommodation were soon to be resolved when, in 1866, a chapel of ease to the main church was built from two or three old cottages in Dunton Road. Known as Holy Trinity, this would be convenient for elderly people living within that vicinity, but when the chapel eventually fell into disuse it was then employed as a store house. During the restoration of St. Michael’s, alabaster figures, possibly from a 15th century reredos, had been discovered in the step of the window above the chancel arch, and these are now to be seen set into the north sanctuary wall, near the ambry. Possibly they had been hidden during a time of religious upheaval, and it was also during a period of national turbulence that the church found an impromptu use as stables, when, during the Civil War, Cromwell’s troops tethered their horses to the oak pews. In fact at Pitch Green, a mile or so north east of the church, the remains of a 300 feet entrenchment possibly marked the site of a contemporary skirmish, for human bones and a sword have been found in the area. With the pews having been removed in 1833, the newly restored church was reopened in 1862, and following a relevant service the vicar invited a large company, including fifty clergy, to lunch in the recently built National schoolroom. Replacing a smaller example, in 1867 at a cost of £44 a porch to the south door was then constructed, but as evidence that the early church had been without a porch ‘finger dials’, (used by the congregation to tell the time), may be seen bordering the doorway. In 1910 came the construction of a south side vestry, linked to the main building by a short passage, and with the Diocesan architect, J. Oldrid Scott, having been responsible for the design, the finance, of £246, was raised by public subscription. As for more recent alterations to the church, in 1964 on the grounds of safety the late 14th century pinnacles were removed from the tower, wherein some of the bells were cast at the famed Chandler foundry of Drayton Parslow.