Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a predominantly 14th and 15th century church, with some parts dating back to around 1300. It was restored in the 19th century, with repairs ongoing at the time of a survey in 1986. The church is constructed of dressed sandstone with a stone slate roof, and is in the Perpendicular style.

The church comprises a west tower, a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, and a south chapel. The three-stage west tower has diagonal buttresses, a moulded plinth, and a restored three-light west window with a cavetto-moulded reveal and hoodmould, featuring small, worn figured stops. Above this is a small ogee-headed niche containing a carved angel and crocketed pinnacles. The belfry has two-light cusped windows with double-chamfered reveals and hoodmoulds with carved stops, a corbel table to an embattled parapet, and crocketed corner pinnacles. The tower’s south side has three chamfered lancets, and the south-west corner has small looplights for the integral staircase.

The south aisle was largely rebuilt in the 19th century with large, square-headed mullioned windows, except for the first bay, which retains a low-gabled medieval porch with diagonal buttresses, a chamfered 2-centred arched outer doorway, a similar inner doorway, and a roof carried on two massive, chamfered transverse arches. The nave has four clerestory windows, each with two cusped lights.

The chapel, attached to the south side of the chancel under a parallel roof, has three unequal bays with buttresses. It features a Tudor-arched priest’s door, three large four-light mullioned windows with round-headed lights and hollow spandrels (with the first window having a lowered sill), a corbel table, and a plain parapet. The chancel has a 19th-century four-light east window with tracery.

Inside, the north arcade dates back to around 1300, characterized by quatrefoil piers and double-chamfered arches with chamfer stops. The south arcade features octagonal columns and double-chamfered arches, while the chapel arcade is similar in style. The chapel roof has three king-post trusses with V-struts, trenched purlins, and small downwind braces. A piscina is located on the north side of the east respond of the north arcade. An aumbry is present in the chapel. The octagonal font is adorned with carved traceried motifs. A monument to John Freeston (died 1594) is in the form of a tall shrine with Ionic columns and plain shields and resides at the east end of the north aisle, having previously been in the chancel. A tablet commemorating the Favill family (1722) features side swags, a scrolled pediment, and an angel with two skulls below. A large bas-relief obelisk is dedicated to John Smith of Newland (died 1746), incorporating a cartouche and open pediment. At the west end of the nave, a large wall obelisk and tablet are inscribed to James Torre (died 1699) and other Torre family members, framed by consoles.