Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints, Lubenham

A parish church of great antiquity, with fabric dating from the late 12th century through to the 19th century. The building was substantially restored in 1900 by Gotch and Saunders of Kettering, and again in 1934–35 when the roof was renewed. The church comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, south porch, chancel, and north chapel. It is built of coursed ironstone rubble with ashlar limestone dressings, and is roofed in lead with coped parapets.

The west tower, dating from the late 13th century with its upper stage probably added around 1600, is of two stages. It has a double chamfered plinth, a plain first stage band, and above this a moulded band and crenellated parapet. Diagonal buttresses of around 1400 stand at the north-west and south-west corners with coped set-offs. The west elevation features a plain doorway probably inserted in 1727, with a wooden lintel and plank door, a 2-light window with straight hoodmould above it, and a 2-light bell-opening with chamfered jambs. The north, south and east elevations have similar bell-openings.

The north aisle is late 13th century. Its north doorway has a 13th-century round arch with hoodmould. Eastwards from the west, it has a buttress followed by a 19th-century 3-light window in Perpendicular style with straight hoodmould, a buttress, another similar window, a buttress, a 3-light 17th-century window with square frame and ovolo-moulded mullions, a buttress, and a 17th-century doorway with 4-centred arch and hoodmould. A 3-bay clerestory above contains 2-light 15th-century windows with hoodmoulds. The north chapel was rebuilt around 1600 and has a diagonal buttress at its north-east corner, a 14th-century north window, and a 3-light east window with hoodmould.

The chancel walls were raised in the 15th century. Its east wall has 14th-century diagonal buttresses, a cill band, and a large 14th-century 5-light window with 4-centred arch, restored in the 19th century. The south wall has, from east to west, a 2-light window with hoodmould and headstops, a buttress, another 2-light window with hoodmould, and a 20th-century boilerhouse stack. A band above indicates the start of the raised wall.

The south aisle is late 13th century. From east to west it has a buttress followed by a 19th-century 3-light window with hoodmould. The south porch was rebuilt in 1861 with ashlar coped gable and slate roof. It has a chamfered pointed arch doorway with hoodmould, and its east and west walls each have single 3-light windows with hoodmoulds. West of the porch, one bay of the south aisle was demolished in the 15th century and a 3-light Perpendicular window with hoodmould was inserted in the blocked bay. The clerestory to the south contains, from east to west, a 3-light window with square frame and cavetto-moulded jambs and mullions, a 2-light window with ogee head tracery and hoodmould, a buttress, and a 3-light window with hoodmould.

The interior contains a late 13th-century double-chamfered pointed tower arch with hoodmould and double-shafted piers with moulded capitals and bases. The nave arcades, probably of the late 13th century, comprise three bays on the north side and two on the south, with the south-west bay blocked. The arches are late 13th-century with double chamfers, pointed profiles, and continuous hoodmoulds. The north arcade's central bay has two flat circular piers; the western pier has an octagonal moulded capital, while the eastern has a square abacus with stiff-leaf carving to its underside and carved faces at its corners, probably dating from around 1200. Above the western capital, the hoodmould springs from two corbelled heads. The south arcade piers are polygonal with moulded capitals and bases.

The chancel arch is late 13th-century with double chamfers and pointed profile, though much of its hoodmould is lost. It has polygonal piers with capitals and bases. Rood stair doorways flank the chancel arch on both sides. The north aisle's east end has a pointed arch entry into the north chapel. Within the north chapel, the south wall displays a damaged piscina and sedilia of around 1300, and reset 13th-century corbels. A squint with damaged 14th-century tracery opens towards the chancel. The north and east walls are clad with 17th and 18th-century panelling, including an inner porch to the north door with fluted pilasters at its corners.

In the chancel, the north wall has a large chamfered round arch with hoodmould on circular piers, followed by a squint from the north chapel and then a canopied recess with triple shafts and fillets and a cinquefoil arch with heads at the points of its coping. On each side stands a damaged pinnacle on a corbel; this feature, probably of the 14th century and possibly an Easter Sepulchre, shows considerable wear. A trefoil head piscina sits below the west window of the south wall. The nave roof is 15th-century, restored in 1860 and 1934–35.

The furnishings include a 19th-century octagonal font and 19th-century organ. A damaged early 17th-century pew in the south aisle has panelled sides and a door with balustraded screen above. Box pews and a 2-decker pulpit with sounding board date from 1812. A 17th-century chair and an oak altar table with large turned legs, reputedly removed from the Old Hall in Lubenham, are also present. Fragments of a medieval screen and poppy head bench ends stand against the south wall of the nave. A Hanoverian coat of arms in a square frame hangs above the chancel arch.

The monuments include 19th-century tablets to the Bullivant family in the chancel, two 18th-century marble tablets to the Wright family, and a 19th-century tablet on the east side of the nave to the Bosworths of Papillon Hall.