Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

Parish church with 13th-century chancel and 14th–15th-century nave, aisles and tower. The building underwent major restorations around 1857 (involving re-flooring and removal of plaster) and again in 1878 to the aisles, chancel and tower.

Construction materials vary by location: limestone ashlar forms the tower and the north and south walls of the nave and aisles; limestone and chalk rubble with ashlar dressings appear on the chancel; the east and west walls of the aisles are limestone and chalk rubble; and a brick south porch has an ashlar front, while the north porch is rendered stone. Slate roofs cover the nave, chancel and porches, with lead roofs to the aisles. The plan comprises a west tower, 4-bay nave, 5-bay north and south aisles, north and south porches (the latter now serving as a vestry), and a 3-bay chancel.

The tower rises in three stages. Moulded angle buttresses with set-offs rise the full height, with moulded stringcourses between stages. The first stage contains a pointed moulded west door with hoodmould and headstops, a four-centred arch 4-light traceried window with hoodmould and headstops, and slit windows to stairs in the south-west angle. The second stage has a four-centred arch 2-light traceried window with hoodmould and headstops, and 19th-century clock faces to the west and north. The third stage, added in the later 15th century, displays Perpendicular tracery in pointed 2-light belfry openings with hoodmoulds and corbelled pilaster strips rising to an embattled parapet with weathered gargoyles.

The aisles feature buttresses with set-offs between and at angles. Four-centred arch 3-light cinquefoiled windows with hoodmoulds light the north, south and east walls, with those to the north and east having largely restored tracery. Moulded cornices with gargoyles at angles support 19th-century embattled parapets with crocketed angle pinnacles. The south aisle has a pointed 3-light west window with 19th-century curvilinear tracery, while the north aisle contains a 14th-century pointed 3-light west window with reticulated tracery.

The nave is lit by eight four-centred arch 3-light cinquefoiled clerestory windows and has a moulded cornice, coped gable and sanctus bellcote with moulded arched openings and a cross finial. A buttress projects from the east wall.

The chancel's north side features a central buttress, a restored lancet with hoodmould and carved stops, a 19th-century twin lancet, and a basket-arched 3-light trefoiled window. The south side has a similar arrangement with a basket-arched 3-light trefoiled window, a 14th-century pointed 3-light window with partly-restored curvilinear tracery and foliate stops, and a small pointed hollow-chamfered priest's door. The east window is a four-centred arch 4-light opening with hoodmould and 19th-century tracery.

The south porch, partly blocked, has side buttresses with moulded set-offs flanking a pointed moulded outer arch. The north porch features a pointed chamfered outer doorway with ashlar jambs and a 19th-century brick arch, a pointed inner arch with ornate carved heads and flowers in the hollow moulding, a 19th-century door retaining re-used medieval strap-hinges, and a pair of carved corbels above supporting the porch roof purlins.

Interior

The 4-bay arcades consist of pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers with plain moulded capitals and bases set on octagonal plinths; the second pier from the east on the south side bears traces of painted bands. Pointed double-chamfered tower and chancel arches spring from octagonal responds with plain moulded bases and capitals. Re-used 12th-century chevron-moulded masonry appears at the east end of the nave.

The former south porch contains a fine pointed moulded south doorway and its original door (partly restored) with moulded ribs and decorated wrought-iron strap hinges. A pointed moulded niche for a stoup, fragmentary 15th-century crucifixion painting, and black-letter inscription survive on the east wall.

The chancel features a double piscina with fillet-moulded trefoiled arches, a central octagonal shaft with dog-tooth moulded abacus and quatrefoil panel in the spandrel, and triangular-headed aumbrys on the south and north walls.

The fine 15th-century 4-bay moulded oak nave roof has cranked tie beams with crocketed braces to corbelled wall posts, two pairs of vertical struts with traceried panels between, intermediate principal rafters, and single butt- and ridge-purlins. A similar but plainer 15th-century 2-bay south porch roof features moulded tie beams and wall plates.

Monuments include a damaged late 13th-century knight effigy in the chancel; an ornate marble wall tablet of 1669 to Edward and Arabel Skinner with carved base, pilasters and scrolled pediment with arms; a floor slab of 1664 to John and Robert Sandes; a wall tablet of 1787 to Thomas Wyer with carved urns by E. Foster of Hull in the south aisle; and mid-17th to early 18th-century inscribed floor slabs at the west end of the nave. A restored carved oak panelled pulpit dates to 1634.