Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A Grade I listed church of major historical importance, combining elements from the mid-12th century onwards. The building comprises an engaged west tower flanked by aisles, a three-bay aisled nave with north and south porches, two-bay transepts to north and south, a three-bay chancel, and a two-bay vestry adjoining the north side of the chancel.

The tower is the earliest major component, dating from the mid-12th century, with the nave added in the mid-12th century. The nave aisles, transepts, and upper stages of the tower were added in the early to mid-13th century. The chancel dates from the later 13th century, while the south door and windows to the aisles and transepts are 14th-century work. Mid-17th-century restorations were followed by the addition of a north porch in the 18th century and a vestry in the 19th century. The most significant later interventions were the comprehensive restorations of 1903–4 by C. Hodgeson Fowler, which included the addition of a nave clerestory and tower parapet, rebuilding of the chancel gable, and re-roofing and re-flooring throughout.

The building is constructed in coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, under slate roofs. The four-stage tower has a plinth and quoins with chamfered string courses to the first three stages. The tall first stage contains a west door with a low arched lintel and a later lancet above. The stepped-in second stage features twin round-headed belfry openings with cylindrical mid-wall shafts and cushion capitals. The third stage has circular sound-holes, obscured on the south by a 19th-century clockface. The fourth stage contains tall twin pointed belfry openings with nook shafts and a central chamfered shaft. A 20th-century corbel table, spouts, and an embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles crown the tower.

The west ends of the aisles flanking the tower have chamfered plinths, buttresses, a moulded sill band, and pointed three-light windows with intersecting tracery. The south aisle has a chamfered plinth, buttresses, and square-headed windows of two and three trefoiled lights. The north aisle features a blocked square opening, an 18th-century lancet, and a three-light pointed window with intersecting tracery. Both transepts have plinths, quoins, and a moulded sill band, with two lancets to the east (those to north and south having hoodmoulds) and four-light windows to north and south with Curvilinear tracery and hoodmoulds.

The chancel has a chamfered plinth, angle and mid buttresses, two lancets to north and south, a plate-traceried south window with two lights and a circle above, and a pointed chamfered priest's door, all with hoodmoulds and carved stops. A 20th-century pointed three-light east window and pinnacled gable are later additions. The vestry has lancets and a pointed north door with an oval light above. The north porch has a blocked pointed door, a pedimented gable, and a pointed interior vault. The south porch features a pointed outer arch with an inner shafted order, flanked by a pair of trefoiled niches with a third in a 20th-century rebuilt gable above. The pointed inner door has two shafted orders with a roll-moulded arch, surmounted by an ogee-headed niche with an ornate carved base and crocketed canopy flanked by pinnacled buttresses. The original door retains ornate strap hinges.

The interior contains narrow round-headed windows to the north and south sides of the tower and a round-headed tower arch with a narrow flat-headed doorway above. The nave arcades comprise double-chamfered pointed arches with hoodmoulds and carved headstops on octagonal piers with moulded bases and finely-carved foliate capitals (one of 19th-century date). The piers feature bold mid-shaft collars, keeled to the north and dog-tooth moulded to the south. The west responds are keeled and triple-shafted, while the east responds are broad and filleted, with a plain moulded capital to the south and a re-used Romanesque capital to the north featuring animal carving.

The south transept contains a dog-tooth hoodmould to one lancet, a rectangular aumbry, and a pointed chamfered piscina. A similar piscina is present in the north transept. The chancel arch is pointed, chamfered, and of three orders on filleted responds, with a plain moulded capital to the north and a foliate capital to the south. A restored piscina is located in the chancel.

Significant furnishings include a mutilated brass in the chancel floor to John Rudd and two wives, dated 1504, and a carved stone tablet on the south wall to Peter Gering dated 1590, with arms and full achievement. Late 18th-century and early 19th-century marble wall tablets are located in the chancel and south aisle. The present font is 19th-century; an earlier font in the south transept has an octagonal bowl on a re-used foliate capital with nailhead moulding to the abacus.