Church of St Peter and St Paul, Muchelney

The Church of St Peter and St Paul stands in Muchelney, a village in Somerset beside the River Parrett. Its oldest parts go back to Saxon times, but the building now is mainly 15th-century work. A Grade I listed building, it shares its setting with the ruins of Muchelney Abbey close by. The church’s ceiling carries colourful Jacobean paintings of bare-breasted angels painted in the early 17th century. These figures are thought to represent innocent purity rather than any other meaning. The interior holds a barrel organ made by Gray and Davison and installed between 1835 and 1840. This instrument is the last known example still in the church where it first played and remains in working order today. The nave has three bays with aisles, and the chancel has a short chapel on each side. A three-stage Somerset tower rises from the west end, built around 1468 and braced by full-height corner buttresses. Visitors enter through the south-east octagonal stair turret that leads to an outer door. The tower’s design and the painted angels show the craftsmanship of different centuries. The church belongs to the Langport Area Team Ministry within the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Its quiet riverside setting and historic fabric make it a place where past and present meet.