Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

Parish church dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, with 15th-century additions. The tower was restored in 1620 after the collapse of its spire. The church was extensively restored and the chancel rebuilt around 1885. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble and ashlar with ashlar dressings, and has plain tile roofs throughout.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with aisles, south porch, and chancel. The nave and aisles are topped with plain parapets featuring chamfered coping, which also caps the eastern gable.

The west tower is built of ashlar in three stages with angle buttresses. It has a chamfered and moulded plinth, moulded stage bands, and a plain parapet with chamfered coping and overshoots. The south face has a tiny round-headed chamfered lancet on the second stage and a two-light round-headed bell opening with double round arched tracery in a chamfered surround on the third stage. The west face has a round-headed two-light window on the first stage (similar to the bell openings), a tiny round-headed chamfered lancet on the second stage, and another bell opening on the third. The north face mirrors the south, while the east face contains a bell opening and a blue metal clock face.

The north aisle has a chamfered plinth with two gabled buttresses and two diagonal corner buttresses, plus gargoyles. A pointed arched doorway with a plank door in a moulded chamfered surround with hood stands to the right, with two two-light panel tracery windows in pointed arches with hoods to the left. The east wall features a three-light panel tracery window in a pointed and chamfered arch with hood.

The chancel has a chamfered plinth. Its north wall contains two tall chamfered lancets with hoods and a small lancet in a roll moulded surround. The east wall has three chamfered lancets (the centre one taller) with a continuous hood and moulded cill band; the gable is coped with kneelers and a cross finial. The south wall displays a small lancet in a roll moulded surround, a chamfered lancet with hood above it, a priest's door below in a chamfered pointed arch with a plank door, and two more tall chamfered lancets with hoods.

The south aisle has a double chamfered plinth, diagonal corner buttresses, and a single wall buttress. Its east wall contains a cusped three-light intersecting tracery window in a pointed and chamfered surround. The south wall has two two-light panel tracery windows in pointed arches with hoods, and a gabled porch.

The south porch has banded rubble walling, a chamfered plinth, chamfered coped gable with cross finial, and short angle buttresses. The pointed arched opening features a moulded arch with keeled single shaft responds with moulded capitals and bases, plus a hood with head stops and stone benches. The inner doorway has double plank doors in a triple pointed arch with roll moulding and dog-tooth ornament in each arch, a moulded impost band, and inner roll moulded jambs with an outer pair of single shaft responds with moulded capitals and bases. A blocked doorway remains on the south aisle west wall.

Interior: The nave has three-bay arcades with double chamfered arches and hoods. The north arcade has piers with four keeled shafts and responds with single keeled shafts, all with moulded capitals and bases, plus stone benches. The south arcade has a single keeled shafted respond to the west and a cross-plan western pier with a single shaft in each angle. The eastern pier is square, decorated with dog-tooth, and has a single shaft before each face; the eastern respond has three keeled shafts with stiff leaf capitals. All remaining shafts have moulded capitals and bases, with stone benches throughout.

The tower arch is round-headed with an outer plain arch and two inner chamfered arches, supported by triple shaft responds with scalloped capitals and moulded bases. The chancel arch is double chamfered with octagonal responds, moulded capitals and bases, and stone benches.

A 15th-century octagonal ashlar font has a bowl and stem with quatrefoil panels containing alternate shields and roses. The church contains 19th-century wooden roofs, pews, choir stalls, pulpit, rood screen, and reredos, together with a brass and wooden altar rail. The sedilia (heavily restored) has triple arches, and there is a single arched piscina.

Monuments include: in the chancel, a carved stone tablet to Robert Cranwell (1776) signed by J Hall of Sleaford, and a marble tablet to Elizabeth Cranwell (1765); in the chancel also is an alabaster tablet to Arthur Myers, Rector from 1870 to 1892. In the north aisle is a brass war memorial tablet and a stone tablet with two carved figures supporting a pediment to Matthew Stone (1710). The south aisle contains an unusual stone tablet to Thomas Wiles (1780), signed by Tidd of Sleaford. In the nave is a marble tablet to Robert Holmes (1806), decorated with an urn.