St Michaels Church, Alkerton is a beautiful building in a beautiful setting. It stands on a steep hillside hidden by the Old Rectory and by trees. It is noble yet homely, solid but not oppressive.
The church dates from 1200 with a late 14th century clerestory and chancel. The chancel was rebuilt in the early 17th century. It is listed Grade I under the Town and Country Planning Act.
Electricity was introduced in 1996 with heating and lighting in keeping with its character under the guidance of the churchwardens Henry Ewer and Margaret Bloomfield.
The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of St Michael and All Angels are the lower stages of the central bell tower, which date from the 12th century in the Transitional style between Norman and Early English Gothic.
Towards the end of the 12th century the south aisle was added, linked with the nave by an Early English Gothic arcade of two bays. Early in the 13th century the east and west arches of the central tower were replaced with Early English Gothic ones. A stone effigy of a knight in an early 13th-century style was presumably added about the same time. Early in the 14th century the upper stages of the bell tower were built and the nave was rebuilt.
Late in the 14th century a clerestory was added to the nave. The exterior of the clerestory is elaborately decorated with figures of men and animals carved from Hornton stone. The style of carving belongs to a school of 14th century north Oxfordshire masons whose work survives also at Adderbury, Bloxham and Hanwell.
Early in the 17th century the rector, the mathematician Thomas Lydiat, had the chancel rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style. In 1889 the architect JA Cossins restored the church building and added an organ chamber south of the tower and east of the south aisle. St Michael's is now a Grade I listed building.
The tower has a chime of four bells but they are not currently ringable. The oldest bell was cast in about 1400 and another was cast in 1618.
St Michael's is now one of eight ecclesiastical parishes in the Ironstone Benefice.