St Michael the Archangel
Safegarding
Ensuring that children and young people as well as adults are kept safe whilst in our care is an integral part of our church life. If you have any concerns about safeguarding please contact:
In the Parish Glenys Herbert Parish Safeguarding co-ordinator Tel. 01636 812335
In the Diocese Donna Bernard-Carlin, Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser Tel. 01636 817200
Out of hours for Children and Adults
Nottinghamshire 03004564546
Nottingham City Council: 011587610000
Bawtry: 01302796000
Weddings, Baptisms & Funerals
If you are interested in booking our church for any reason or would like any further info please contact:
Church Wardens:
Penni Wells: 01636 813491 / 07824 700005 / Email
Glenys Herbert: 01636 812335 / Email
Assistant Church Warden:
Bev Perks: 01636 812181 / 07977 920833 / Email
The usual service pattern is:
1st Sunday 9.30 a.m. Morning worship. A service with hymns and psalms which mixes the traditional and modern styles of worship.
2nd Sunday 10.30 a.m. All age/themed service. A short modern service with hymns which usually lasts 30 to 35 minutes.
3rd Sunday 9.30 a.m. Holy Communion. A sung service in modern language.
4th Sunday 10.30 a.m. Holy Communion. A sung service in traditional language.
5th Sunday. As advertised. There is not always a service on this day and sometimes it is at St. Giles Edingley.
From time to time the format and times of services are changed when we celebrate special festivals or commemorations, notably at Harvest and Christmas.
for up to date info on services please check the Halam News
About Our Church...
St. Michael's is a Norman church dating from about 1100.
It has a chancel, nave, tower, south aisle and a north porch. The legend in the village is that the church was built with stone from Bolsover and Sherwood Forest that was intended for the building of the much larger church, Southwell Minster, just two miles further along the road. The story goes that the carts carrying the stone would rest at the bottom of the steep hill out of Halam before attempting the climb up to Southwell, and while the carters were taking "refreshments" at the local ale house, Halam villagers 'relieved' the carts of enough stone to build their own church.
The tower is massive, somewhat squat and two storeys high. It may have originally been intended to have a third storey - the size of the base certainly suggests so. Its pyramidal roof is a restoration but is probably typical of those on Norman towers of this sort. There is a tall pinnacle and a large grotesque waterspout gargoyle at each of its top corners. The west door into the tower has a pointed arch with a carved head on each capital, one male and one female. On the first floor is the belfry with three narrow two-light openings; the one on the front of the church is bricked up and covered by the large clock face.
A peculiarity of Halam church is that rather than being aligned along an East-West axis, it actually lies on South East-North West line. This may be due to an error of the original builders, a local idiosyncrasy or because it was aligned with an earlier, probably pagan building.
The south side has an aisle which was rebuilt during extensive Victorian 'restoration' of the church in 1884 with an Early English gothic style pointed-headed west window and three square-headed windows with stone tracery. At this time, the original south porch was demolished and the present north porch was added.
There are five square-headed windows in the chancel, each having a pair of delightful head carvings as the ends of the hood-mould or dripstone.
The is a fourteenth century 'leper window' in the north wall of the chancel, now built up on the inside and visible only from the outside. It is said that this window once had a pair of oak shutters that opened inwards and allowed wandering outcast lepers to see through the low window and take part in the services from outside.
For full history and details of our Church try this link