St Michaels Cookley has a delightfully well-kept interior. I was struck for the first time by how simple the 19th Century restoration was here, a lack of grandeur that suited a small rural church, and one in which the blacksmith and ploughman would have felt quite at home. What I had said about it in 1999 was wrong, and I was sorry. Furthermore, the interior feels loved now - everything is clean and tidy, and Cautley's rood screen upright has been bolted into its correct position beside the chancel arch, although I was disappointed to discover that the typewritten note has now gone, and partly blame myself for this. And of course the Norman north doorway is still as fine as ever. Two little bench ends survive from the 15th Century - had I noticed them before and forgotten them? One shows a peasant seated and praying with his rosary beads. He supports his head with one hand - is he bored? If so, this could well be Pride, the last survivor of a Seven Deadly Sins set. The other appears to show a devil, but I think it is actually an angel holding a prayer scroll. There is also a double figure brass from about 1600, now unfortunately remounted on the wall.
This is a lovely church. This needs saying, because it has had a bad press over the last few years, and by no means just from me. But it has survived, and now prospers, and is well deserved of our visits, prayers and even donations - did they ever get those bells ringing again, I wonder?
Simon Knott, August 2014
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