St Michael’s church is one of three churches in the Parish of Three Saints. This section of the website provides a brief history of the Parish and its organization, and an outline of the two projects which the National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting.
The Parish of Three Saints – a brief history
In the medieval period there were three separate parishes for the villages of South Brent, Brentmarshe and Lymplesham, and each had a significant church. By the end of the nineteenth century the villages became known as Brent Knoll, East Brent and Lympsham respectively. During the 1970's the Parishes were brought together to operate as a Benefice served by a single priest. In 2011 a decision was made to form a single Parish and The Parish of Three Saints came into being in 2012.
The new Parish has a population of 3,400, which is concentrated in the villages of Brent Knoll, East Brent, Lympsham and Rooksbridge. It includes the communities of Edingworth and Eastertown. The hill of Brent Knoll is a local landmark that is clearly seen from the M5 motorway which passes close by. The village of Brent Knoll itself circles the hill and merges into East Brent on the north side of the Knoll. Lympsham lies to the north of East Brent and is a separate village. Since the days of the Benefice Sunday services have been held in rotation at the three Parish churches. This practice continues in The Parish of Three Saints.
The new Parish began its operation by streamlining its administration. The Parish finances were split into two: Church Life, concerned with administration and Church Mission, and Heritage, concerned with the cost of maintenance of the churches. In turn each village church is responsible for raising its own funds to support their church building. The Parish set up a Friends framework in 2014, whose main function is to raise funds for a particular village church. St Michael’s Friends has been in existence since then. It runs a scheme to provide small scale regular funding to support the maintenance of St Michael’s, organises regular fundraising events and sends out twice yearly newsletters.
Save Our Special Ceiling
The idea to use the unique medieval wooden carved ceiling as a way of raising funds was put forward some years ago. The way this was set up to support our roof renewal project is described on a separate webpage.
Promoting Education About Church Heritage - PEACH
Community involvement has always been a key element of the support for St Michael’s church. The NLHF project provided an opportunity to put this into practice. The key elements of PEACH are set out in the webpage.