St. Michael's, Little Coates

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Warm Greetings from St. Michael's congregation

Inclusive Church

We intentionally welcome all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, age, physical or mental capacity, education and socioeconomic or marital status.

We are a community focused church with lots of group activities as well as times for worship. We strive to promote wellbeing for all people, hosting and supporting many organisations and clubs that use our building. We support many charities.

We continually encourage meaningful opportunities for growth and service; and we provide sacred space for those who value the deeper things in life.

Public Services have now resumed at St Michael's.

Sunday services are at 10.30am.

We will continue to Live-Stream services via our Facebook pages, the links can be viewed here.

Open Church & Parish Office - St Michael's will be open each Saturday 10-12.

Food Bank Donations

Covid-19 has meant increased demand and pressure placed on Food Banks that assist those in our communities who struggle to support themselves and their families.

Both St. Michael’s and St. Nicolas’ receive food donations to pass on to local Food Banks.

You can donate items at:

St Michael’s on Saturdays 10-12

St Nicolas' on Tuesday morning between 10 & 10.30 at the lay-by in front of the Church.

For urgent matters please contact the clergy.

Historical Notes

The oldest part of the Church is Early English, which is known since there is a pillar supporting the south aisle roof which is 13th century. The small Church was rebuilt in 14th-15th centuries, though an extension built in the early 1900’s made the church much bigger. The older part, including the ancient nave, along with the south aisle and chancel (now a side chapel) is clear to spot with its lower roof and smaller windows. The ancient chancel is now used as a Lady Chapel, but before the extension in the 1900s, this is where the main altar would have been.

In 1910, an east window was installed here (in the current Lady Chapel) by the artist Herbert W. Bryans to the memory of Joseph Smethurst. The window shows ‘The Agony in the Garden’ as the Angel succours Jesus with the cup. Jesus’ disciples to the right are asleep and Judas (complete with a black halo) and the soldiers are approaching from the left. In the lower right corner is a small dog, which is the signature of the artist.

The Church was extended in 1912-1914 by the building of the north part of the church, including the tower, the newer nave and chancel. They were built out of a bequest by Joseph Chapman, a timber merchant who is buried in the graveyard. Sir Walter Tapper, a renowned church architect, built them in a 13th century style. Unusually, part of this extension made to the Church included a new nave situated next to the church building, alongside what was then the current nave. The newer nave was much longer than the previous one and results in the Church having a somewhat unusual shape, being rather wide on the south side. This addition of a longer nave adjacent to a smaller one, meant it was difficult when in the ancient nave to see the altar at the front of the newer nave. As a result, the space when you enter the Church from the south door which is the ancient nave is now used as a hall space; whereas the 1900’s extension is used today for worship.

Inside the church, there is an octagonal Medieval font which is still used today. The organ and organ loft which are also still used today are at the west end of the nave and are built into the tower. On entering the Church from the south door, there is a small Medieval holy water stoup to the left with pointed arch and octagonal bowl. Faithful people would have dipped their fingers into this water and blessed themselves with the sign of the cross and some people still use the water for this today.

Recent Changes to the Church Building: Much work has also taken place in St Michael’s during the last fifteen years, including installing a modern heating system, re-roofing the nave, building a new entrance ramp and adding a new kitchen and toilet which have facilities for the disabled and for baby changing. As a result, St Michael’s is now used regularly for various activities and is available to hire for £10 per hour. More details here.

During this recent work, the finely carved modern screen which used to separate the newer nave from the chancel was replaced in the hall area in front of the kitchen. Also, the kitchen area has no roof so that the stained glass window on the west wall of the south aisle can still be partly seen. It shows St.Michael on the left in full armour with scales in his hand to symbolise weighing the souls of the departed, and St.Gabriel on the right holding a lily.

Keeping Safe

Most of the time at church we are like a big happy family. However even in very happy families people
can have a bad day and even people we know and trust can upset us. We want to help everyone have
good days all of the time. We try to make sure that people who have jobs in the church always behave
well and in a way that is helpful to you. We never want anyone or anything in church to frighten you,
confuse you or worry you. It is important that you tell us if something is upsetting you or if you are
feeling worried about something that's happening or something somebody is doing. We have specially
trained people who you can talk to and who you can ask for help. These people are good at
safeguarding. This means they look after everyone's safety. Caring for people is a very important part
of our Christian life.

The people who can help you are the parish priest or the parish safeguarding officer. You can contact
the safeguarding officer Christine Job (01472 239 846 or 07914 530 145) or the parish priest
Rev'd Jenny Camm (01472 902 071). If you wish to speak to someone outside the church
you can contact the diocesan safeguarding team - their contact details are available here.

There is also information there about other places from where you can get help or advice.

Full details of our safeguarding policy can be found here:-Parish Safeguarding Policy

Details of our cookie policy may be found here.