Church of All Hallows

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 6 October 2022 to correct a typo in the description

919/40/7

WESTGATE ALMONDBURY (North side) CHURCH OF ALL HALLOWS

(Formerly listed as: WESTGATE ALMONDBURY CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS ALMONDBURY)

03-MAR-52

GV I

Chancel C13. Flanking chapels C14 (lengthened in C19). West tower apparently C15, possibly the result of an indulgence of 1485 for the repair of the church.

Nave and aisles could also be the result of the 1485 indulgence, but the windows appear to be early C16, and the nave roof is dated 1522 (battlements and pinnacles 1872-7). South porch C19. Hammer dressed stone and ashlar. Pitched stone slate roofs, aisle roofs lean-to. Chancel has north and south lancets, externally obscured by the C19 extensions of the flanking chapels. Three east windows, the flanking ones round-arched with elementary bar tracery, the central one now of three-lights with cusped Perpendicular tracery, but originally three stepped lancets with relieving arch. Clerestory and aisles windows both of three lights each, with uninterrupted mullions, and cusped two-centred arched lights, the clerestory windows oblong, the aisle windows with three-centred heads and hoodmoulds.

Tower has diagonal buttresses with many set-offs and gargoyles at top. Crenellated parapet. Crocketed pinnacles. West door in deeply moulded two-centred arch. Three-light west window with Perpendicular tracery, in two-centred arch with hoodmould. Large three-light bell openings in two-centred openings with hoodmould.

Interior. Nave has five-bay arcade with octagonal piers, moulded capitals and moulded voussoirs. Double chamfered tower arch dying into imposts. Double chamfered chancel arch on moulded capitals. Chancel has two-bay arcade to north, with double chamfered voussoirs and moulded corbels. Three-bay arcade to south, its capitals decorated with Tudor roses and fleurs-de-lys.

Nave has particularly fine timber ceiling with an inscription running all round cornice, which names Geferay Daystre as the joiner, and 1522 as the date: shallow pitch, all beams moulded and bosses elaborately ornamented. Chancel has hammer-beam roof, apparently C19. Good Perpendicular timber traceried screen to north chapel. Outstanding C17 joinery font cover (cf Bradford and Halifax) Gothic Survival tracery and three tiers of perforated canopies.

Good C15 stained glass in east window and in north chapel, restored (and possibly re-set) by the 5th Earl of Dartmouth in 1879. Fenay Family pew 1605. Early C18 gilded eagle lectern. Various monuments, of which the best are to Matthew Wentworth of Bretton (d 1574) (slab incised with figure in armour), William Lister of Thornton-in-Craven (d 1701) (lively Baroque cartouche), and Sir Arhur Kaye of Woodsome Hall (d 1726) (upright architectural composition).

Listing NGR: SE1683415061