Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A parish church of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, restored in 1866. The building is constructed of ashlar with fragments of coursed rubble, and is roofed in slate with ashlar parapets topped by single ridge crosses at the east end of the nave and chancel.

The church comprises a tower, nave, north and south aisles with a north chapel and south vestry, a south porch, and a chancel. All parts are buttressed and set upon a plinth with a string course running over it and guttering under the parapet.

The diagonal buttressed tower is of two stages. It features a restored arched 3-light window with reticulated tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. The belfry contains four arched 2-light openings with panel tracery and cusping, each with hoodmould and label stops. On the south and west sides are two early 20th-century clock faces. The tower displays two gargoyles on all sides except the west wall, which retains a single example. The parapet is embattled with single crocketed pinnacles at the angles. A stair turret with two small fixed lights abuts the north-west corner.

The west wall of the north aisle, which incorporates some coursed rubble, contains an arched 2-light window with panel tracery, hoodmould and label stops. The diagonally buttressed north wall has an arched doorway with wooden door, hoodmould and worn label stops. Three late 14th-century 3-light windows run along this wall, all with cusping and flat heads, hoodmoulds and label stops. The two to the right have reticulated tracery, whilst the one on the left has tracery with cusped mouchettes. The north clerestory contains three 2-light windows with cusping under flat heads. Above the parapet to the east is a single crocketed pinnacle.

The east end of the north chapel, constructed with fragments of coursed rubble, has an arched 3-light window with panel tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. A single crocketed pinnacle rises above the parapet at the angles.

The diagonally buttressed chancel east end displays a restored arched 5-light window with panel and reticulated tracery, hoodmould and label stops. Single crocketed pinnacles project above the parapet at the angles.

The east window of the vestry is a restored arched 3-light opening with tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. The south wall contains a restored arched 3-light window with tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. An arched doorway with hoodmould and label stops is also present, along with two further arched 3-light windows with cusping and hoodmoulds. At the east end of this wall's parapet stands a large crocketed pinnacle.

The south porch has an arched entrance flanked by single columns with worn and restored foliate-decorated capitals supporting a chamfered arch with hoodmould and label stops. A moulded arch forms the inner doorway. Above the porch, at the apex of the parapet, is a damaged finial. The south-west window of the porch is arched with two lights, cusping and hoodmould. The south clerestory corresponds to the north.

The interior contains three-bay nave arcades with low octagonal columns and moulded capitals supporting tall pointed double-chamfered arches. The north arcade responds comprise compound piers, while the south responds are single moulded capitals resting on corbels. The double-chamfered tower arch is supported on single moulded capitals in turn supported on carved heads.

A 13th-century two-bay arcade divides the chancel from the north chapel. The central round column has a moulded capital decorated with a single course of nailhead and supports double-chamfered arches, with a fleur-de-lys at the springing of the arch on the south side. The responds consist of similar single capitals supported on foliate-decorated corbels.

The chancel and south vestry are separated by a double-chamfered arch. Within the vestry are two unrestored, finely carved early 14th-century panels from the workshop of the Hawton Easter Sepulchre, probably brought from the priory. One panel on the east wall depicts Saint Martin dividing his cloak with a beggar, whilst the panel on the west wall shows Saint Helena finding the true cross.

In the south aisle is a late 14th-century recess beneath an ogee arch with a foliate-decorated finial, thought to mark the site of the tomb of Isabel de Chancey, who gave the village to the priory.

The south wall of the north chapel contains a small piscina with a cusped arch over it. Two small openings in the north wall probably once held statues. The roof is supported on mid-19th-century foliate-decorated corbels, and there is a similarly decorated font. The pulpit and lectern are early 20th-century.

The east window of the north aisle contains fragments of stained glass dating to around 1300, possibly from the priory. In the chapel is a wall tablet topped with an urn and drapery, commemorating William Hodges, dated 1815.