Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A Grade I listed church of exceptional regional importance, All Saints displays building phases spanning from the Saxon period through to the 19th century, with the greater part of the present structure dating to the late 14th century. The church underwent substantial mid-19th-century restoration under Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The building is constructed in ashlar limestone, partly lined with sandstone, with rubblework to the earlier sections, and features lead roofs throughout. The plan comprises a west tower with a Saxon north porticus, a three-bay aisled nave with a porch on the south side, a two-bay chancel with a north organ chamber forming an extension of the aisle, and a north vestry. The architectural style is predominantly Perpendicular with some retained Decorated motifs.

The west tower is particularly prominent. It rises from a tall plinth of chamfered and moulded bands, with full-height angle buttresses featuring shaped offsets. The west window has three lights with cusped and ogee forms set beneath a four-centred arch with hoodmould. Slit windows light the ringing chamber, and the belfry stage has paired two-light openings with louvres, hoodmoulds and dividing buttresses. The tower corners cant back to form an octagonal embattled parapet with angle buttresses rising as crocketed pinnacles, with flying buttresses linking to a crocketed octagonal spire from which further pinnacles rise.

The Saxon north porticus remains largely intact to its north and west walls. A 12th-century segmentally-arched doorway is inserted within a Saxon round arch of two orders; the inner arch has imposts, while the outer is worked with plinth blocks and capital blocks to pilastered jambs, with a round-arched hoodmould on the voussoirs.

The nave has a gabled porch to the south aisle. Its inner doorway features shafted jambs supporting a pointed arch with hoodmould rising to a crocketed pinnacle. The walls have a moulded plinth and buttresses between bays. Square-headed windows of three ogee lights sit beneath hoodmoulds with head-carved stops; a similar arrangement appears on the north side with animal and full-figure stops to the hoodmoulds. A moulded oversailing course runs beneath the parapet with roll-moulded copings and a 19th-century flue on the left.

The chancel is of 12th-century rubblework heightened in the late 15th century. A narrow 19th-century priest's door with flat buttress appears on the left, with the remains of a 12th-century window above. The chancel has a pointed three-light window to the left and a three-light window on the right beneath a four-centred arch. The east window has five lights and is set above a 12th-century buttress and string course, with flanking buttresses of the same date. A 17th or 18th-century north vestry has a double-chamfered single-light window, and a chamfered round-headed window lights the chancel wall above.

Interior

The tower is surrounded by double-chamfered arches to its north, east and south sides. The vault above features ribs and tiercerons. The north arcade employs probably re-used cylindrical piers dating to around 1190 with varying capitals and two-order pointed arches with chamfered and moulded orders; hoodmoulds rise from angel corbels. The eastern respond of the north arcade features tripled shafts and fillets with a knight carved as the hood-stop. The south arcade is late 14th-century work with octagonal piers having moulded bases and capitals; the arches and hoodmoulds match the north arcade. There is no chancel arch.

The south aisle contains a piscina with a round-arched head. The chancel has a triangular-headed piscina composed of re-used stones and round-arched sedilia to its right. A dado of Perpendicular ashlar forms a rood screen with castellation; a matching parclose screen section is refixed against the south side of the chancel. A medieval altar slab at the east end of the south aisle is incised with five crosses. The font, positioned beneath the tower, is 14th-century work, octagonal with tracery motifs to a castellated top.

The monuments include a 1696 brass over the vestry door commemorating Johannes Mirfin, above which are two affronted kneelers on corbels flanking a plain slab with shields. At the west end of the north aisle is a cartouche dated 1702 featuring skulls, cherubs, drapes and a vase. Various other 17th and 18th-century wall monuments are present, along with early 17th-century floor slabs beneath the altar. A late 15th-century cross slab now stands near the font, with others recorded in the floor.

The church is outstanding within its region both for the quality of its Saxon north doorway and for the exceptional craftsmanship of its late 14th-century rebuilding.