Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A parish church at Great Sturton, with fabric spanning from the late 11th century to the 18th century, restored in 1904 by T. J. Micklethwaite. The building is constructed of greenstone rubble blocks with limestone ashlar dressings, some red brick and render. The roof is slate and lead with a square wooden 20th-century bell turret to the north and south with slatted openings and a lead finial carrying a weathervane. Stone coped eastern gables are finished with cross finials.

The plan consists of a nave with a west bell turret and south porch, and a chancel. The west front has a plinth and flanking two-stage angle buttresses. A small central early 13th-century doorway with pointed head and chamfered surround is blocked with red brick. Above it rises a large pointed mid-14th-century window, heavily restored in 1904, with three round-headed cusped lights and three cusped mouchettes, beneath a moulded string course.

The north side of the nave has fragmentary plinth and red brick eaves. The outline of three 13th-century north arcade bays with pointed heads survives, with fragments of abaci from the eastern respond and western-most pier. A doorway in the central bay with wooden lintel is blocked with 18th-century brick. A round-headed late 18th-century window to the left has a red brick surround, two round-headed cusped lights and a mouchette. An 18th-century red brick pilaster lies to the left, with another 18th-century round-headed window beyond of similar character. Red brick patching appears above.

The north side of the chancel has plinth and red brick eaves. A small mid-13th-century pointed window with chamfered surround and cusped inner light is present. A large pointed 14th-century window to the east was heavily restored in the early 20th century, with three cusped lights (the central light having an ogee head), tall pointed flanking lights, four mouchettes above and a filleted hood mould. The chancel was truncated in the early 20th century, with a thickly rendered east end, diagonal two-stage buttresses and a pointed window of three cusped lights with the central light taller, beneath a hood mould.

The south side of the chancel has a 20th-century brick plinth, an upper band of 18th-century brick and 20th-century dentillated eaves above. A pointed 13th-century doorway to the east has a chamfered surround in one and is blocked with red brick. A 16th-century rectangular window to the west has three lights with chamfered mullions, with a red brick relieving arch above now blocked with 20th-century brick. A large 20th-century two-stage buttress stands to the west. A 14th-century gargoyle has been reset above, showing a figure with wimple and hands on knees.

The south side of the nave has a late 18th-century window with round head, red brick surround, three cusped round-headed lights and two mouchettes. A 20th-century red brick gabled porch with a plain doorway with segmental head stands to the west. The porch interior has flanking brick benches and a late 11th-century doorway with round voussoired head hidden by the porch gable, a very large lintel and rectangular jambs. A 16th-century plank door survives. An early 14th-century window to the west of the porch has a pointed head, two round-headed cusped lights, a mouchette and hood mould.

The interior tower arch is of 16th-century timber, probably reset from an aisled hall. The inner sides of arcade posts and the soffit of jointed braces carry triple roll mouldings, with extra straight bracing between the angle formed by the tie beam and posts and curved braces. Re-used 16th-century timbers without moulded decoration appear in the north-west and south-west corners, probably outer timbers of the original aisled hall. A flat panelled ceiling masks the upper section of timbers. Early 17th-century wall painting on the north wall depicts Time and Death.

The mid-13th-century three-bay north arcade is partially exposed. The second pier to the east has a mid-13th-century capital of four attached shafts alternating with re-entrant curves. A round pier, probably earlier, lies below (or possibly representing a later encasing of a 13th-century pier). A part of a double chamfered pointed arch is exposed to the west, with the whole of the double chamfered pointed bay to the east showing red and white fleur de lys painted decoration. In the rubble above the window head, a large piece of cusped tracery is embedded. The eastern respond is keeled with a plain keeled capital.

The mid-13th-century chancel arch has keeled and filleted responds, keeled moulded capitals damaged by the now-missing rood screen, and a double chamfered pointed arch. The north wall of the chancel retains part of a richly cusped tomb recess and arch, truncated when the chancel was shortened in the early 20th century. The south chancel doorway is 13th-century with a segmental head. An early 20th-century piscina stands to the east. A 20th-century ashlar reredos with Commandment, Lord's Prayer and Creed Boards is set above. A panelled ceiling is present in the nave. An 18th-century tie-beam roof is in the chancel. A 14th-century octagonal font, heavily restored in the early 20th century, carries flowing cusped decoration and a tall octagonal base with cusped ogee heads, with a coat of arms dated 1808. Early 20th-century pews, lectern and pulpit are in place.