Church Of All Hallows

The Church of All Hallows is a parish church dating from 1862, designed by James Fowler of Louth. The construction incorporated re-used medieval masonry. It is built of squared ironstone with limestone ashlar dressings and has a slate roof. The church comprises a three-bay nave, a west bellcote, a south porch, and a single-bay, apsidal chancel with a vestry adjoining the north side. Architectural features include a plinth and a cill stringcourse, with buttresses. The nave has two-light plate-traceried windows with trefoils above lancets, and stepped lancets to the west within a pointed ashlar panel. A corbelled-out octagonal ashlar bellcote projects from the west gable, featuring shafted belfry openings and an octagonal spirelet with miniature plate-traceried lucarnes and a wrought iron cross finial. Lancets are present in the chancel. The porch has a moulded pointed outer door with a small, medieval carved stone figure re-set above the door. Inside, painted shafts support a double-chamfered chancel arch with a painted rood screen featuring carved figures. Inscribed floor slabs at the west end commemorate Richard William Welfitt (1716) and Maria Welfitt (1717). A mid-17th century font has an octagonal bowl carved with quatrefoil panels and inscribed in Latin, “Pray for the souls of John and Johanna Curteys.” Numerous architectural fragments are incorporated, including eight 11th- to 15th-century capitals and corbels with scalloped, stiff-leaf, and plain mouldings. These fragments carry 20th-century painted carved figures and brass memorial plaques, one labeled "Bardney Abbey." Fragments of 14th-century stained glass are re-set into the south window's trefoil, while panels combining medieval and post-medieval stained glass with central figures are found in the south and west windows. These fragments were likely collected by W M Wright, 1873-1956. A painting dated 1861 hanging in the nave depicts the former church with a blocked south arcade; sections of this building were reputedly incorporated into the south wall, although Fowler’s plans indicate a complete rebuilding.