Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

Parish church dating from the 13th century with minor 18th-century alterations, restored in 1844 when the north aisle was added. The building is constructed of ashlar and coursed squared sandstone with sandstone dressings and plain tile roofs with stone copings to the east end of the chancel and west end of the nave. The nave is topped with a bellcote turret at its west end.

The church comprises a nave with north aisle, lower chancel, north vestry and south porch. The west elevation of the nave features a central two-light window with trefoil-headed lights and pierced spandrels set within a four-centred arched surround, flanked by diagonal buttresses. Above this rises a square stone bellcote with a central trefoil-headed lancet to each of its four sides, a moulded stringcourse with a central gargoyle to the south and west sides, and embattled parapets to the top.

The north elevation contains one small lancet to the west. To the east, the 1844 aisle has two triple lancet windows in flat-headed chamfered surrounds on the north side and a similar two-light window to the west, with diagonal buttresses to its northern corners and low ridgeback coped parapets. The chancel to the east has a 19th-century lancet. Beyond this stands the gabled north vestry with two adjoining lancets to the north and a blocked 13th-century chamfered lancet to the east. The east window is a large pointed window, though its tracery is missing.

The south chancel elevation features a central chamfered pointed doorcase with a studded wooden door. On either side are pairs of adjoining lancets, the pair to the west being 13th-century originals; of the eastern pair, only the lancet on the east is original, whilst the other was added in the 19th century with the stone cut back to form a flat-headed surround matching the nave aisle windows.

The south nave elevation has a 19th-century gabled brick porch with stone coped gable and pointed doorcase. To the east is a 19th-century chamfered lancet, beyond which are four adjoining lancets of which only the two to the west are original. To the west of the porch is a single 13th-century lancet. The inner door is also 13th-century, featuring a staff-moulded pointed arch.

The interior features a two-bay north arcade of 1844 with pointed chamfered arches, a central polygonal pier with moulded capital and plain responds at either end, also with moulded capitals. A similar 13th-century pointed chancel arch stands on plain responds. At the west end of the nave, two large rubble walls flank the central window to support the bellcote above. Between these walls to the east is a segmental staff-moulded arch, above which runs a line of continuous dogtooth decoration. All roof timbers are 19th-century, with extra 19th-century carving added to the sides of the beams.

The nave contains a mid-17th-century ornately carved stone font with a mid-19th-century weighted cover of sumptuous design, a complete set of 19th-century box pews, an early 20th-century cusped marble pulpit, a carved and painted coat of arms on the south wall, and a superb probably 12th-century stained glass window of St Michael. The chancel features a flat-headed niche on the north wall and a deeply chamfered doorcase on the east providing access to the north vestry. Altar rails, choir pews and the east window stained glass are all 19th-century. A fine 18th-century mahogany organ stands on the north wall.

Several memorials are located within the chancel, notably one of 1708 to the Harris family, a marble oval plaque resting on an angel head corbel and topped by an urn finial, and one of 1855 to Charles Cotton featuring a Gothic aedicule.