Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A parish church of mixed medieval and later dates, set on Church Hill in South Cave. The building comprises a three-stage west tower, a three-bay nave with north aisle and south porch, a single-bay south transept, and a three-bay chancel with north vestry.

The church is constructed of small coursed oolitic limestone rubble with freestone dressings and slate roofs. It contains architectural elements from the mid-13th century (chancel arch and transept arch), the 15th century (west tower, later heightened in the 17th century), and the 19th century (chancel remodelled in 1847 by J L Pearson; south transept rebuilt in 1848; north aisle added in 1859).

The west tower features diagonal buttresses with offsets and a low plinth. Two-light square-headed belfry openings have pointed inner lights. The tower is topped with a crenellated parapet and a three-light pointed west window with 19th-century Perpendicular tracery under a hoodmould.

The nave has a shallow early 19th-century plinth with two three-light windows containing Perpendicular tracery under hoodmoulds with face-stops. The south transept has a chamfered plinth and diagonal buttresses with offsets. Its four-light pointed south window features intersecting tracery under a hoodmould with face-stops, and a two-light pointed west window with curvilinear tracery under a hoodmould with foliage stops. Paired 19th-century cusped lancets appear under a single hoodmould on the east wall. A casement-moulded cornice with ballflower ornament runs above, with a low coped parapet and coped gable.

The chancel has a high chamfered plinth and buttresses with offsets. A central pointed priest's door in late 13th-century style features rosettes to its imposts and a hoodmould. Three two-light pointed windows with Decorated tracery sit beneath a sill band, each under a hoodmould with face-stops. Ballflower and diaper ornament decorates the cornice, and the gable is raised and coped with a cross finial. A four-light pointed east window with curvilinear tracery is set under a hoodmould with monarch stops.

The north vestry has fenestration continuous with the north nave aisle: two-light square-headed windows with cusped tracery under hoodmoulds with face-stops. Four two-light square-headed clerestory windows light the interior.

Inside, the 19th-century pointed tower arch is double-chamfered, dying into responds. The north nave arcade consists of three pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal abaci and piers. An early 13th-century pointed double-chamfered chancel arch sits on chamfered imposts with attached shafts and nook-shafts. A similar but smaller arch opens to the south transept, with stiff-leaf ornament to its imposts. A blocked two-bay arcade marks the site of a former north chancel chapel, with two pointed double-chamfered arches on an octagonal pier and matching responds.

The font dates to the 15th century, featuring angel busts at each corner and blank panels between. A small coffin lid in the north aisle bears a foliate cross with a shield to the left and an incised bust of a man to the right; unknown objects occupy the remaining field. An adjoining old rectangular font, probably of the 13th century, stands on pyramid stops with chamfered sides.

Memorials include a wall tablet on the south transept's south wall, recording its rebuilding in 1633 by Henry Garwaie, an Alderman of the City of London. The tablet features an heraldic shield bearing an inscription, framed by egg and dart ornament with a strapwork motif above. In the tower chamber stands an oval benefactions board of 1809, painted with sheaves of corn and horns of plenty, topped by the figure of a woman with a baby and two young children over the word "Charity", with a long inscription below.