Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints, Beckingham

A large parish church dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, restored by Ewan Christian in 1892. The building comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, north aisle chapel, south aisle, south porch, and north side chapel. It is constructed of large and small ashlar with rendered surfaces, and has lead and slate roofs.

The west tower rises four stages and features a plinth with four stringcourses, a crenellated parapet, and eight crocketed pinnacles. It has two diagonal buttresses and four setoffs above the plinth. The west doorway has a moulded pointed arched head with hoodmould and close-boarded door. The fourth stage contains double lancet bell openings with panel tracery, chamfered reveals, and hoodmoulds, with clock faces to the south and east.

The nave features a 15th-century clerestory with three bays, each containing three square-headed double lancets with cusped heads and chamfered reveals on either side. It terminates in a stepped coped gable with cross.

The chancel, comprising two bays, has a plinth and stringcourse to the east with a pair of corner buttresses and two setoffs above the plinth, ending in a coped gable with cross. The east window is a segmental-headed quintuple lancet with cusped heads in a chamfered and rebated reveal. The south side has a single central buttress with two setoffs. To the west is a tall 15th-century triple lancet with cusped heads in a rebated and chamfered reveal. To the east stands a 14th-century priests door with chamfered surround, hoodmould, and mask stops, followed by a 15th-century triple lancet with cusped heads.

The north aisle extends three bays with three buttresses, each with two setoffs above the plinth. The eaves feature four grotesque gargoyles and three corbels, with moulded coped gables and earlier coping surviving to the west. A single-storey stack stands on the north-west corner. The west window is a 14th-century double lancet with decorated tracery and plain hoodmould. The north side has two double lancets with ogee heads in square-headed chamfered reveals to the east, and to the west a blocked 14th-century doorway with ashlar quoins and hoodmould.

The north aisle chapel comprises two bays with three plain buttresses, each with two setoffs above the plinth, a moulded plinth, and a 14th-century double lancet with ogee heads in a square-headed chamfered opening.

The south aisle, dating from the 15th century, spans two bays with moulded plinth and stringcourse. It features four gargoyles and a moulded parapet. There is a single central buttress and a pair of corner buttresses at the east and west corners, all with two setoffs above the plinth. The east gable contains a single 15th-century triple lancet with cusped heads in a chamfered and rebated reveal. The south wall has, to the east, two 15th-century triple lancets with cusped heads in chamfered and rebated reveals with cove-moulded mullions. The west end has a similar window with chamfered mullions.

The south porch dates from the 13th century and has a moulded plinth and coped gable with cross. The south doorway features a double-chamfered and rebated surround with half-octagon responds and hoodmoulds with mask stops; above is a quatrefoil opening in the gable. The east and west sides each have a single lancet in a chamfered reveal.

Interior

The south doorway inside the porch has a 15th-century moulded Tudor arched opening with carved spandrels and a panelled 19th-century door.

The tower arch dates from the 14th century and is very tall with a double-chamfered and rebated profile, half-octagon responds with moulded caps, and chamfered bases. Three bays of elaborate 15th-century panel-traceried screen have been reset in the archway.

The nave arcades, dating from the 13th century, comprise three bays with octagonal piers having moulded bases and capitals decorated with nailhead motifs; keeled responds stand at the west end. The arches are double-chamfered and rebated with chamfered hoodmoulds. Clerestory tie beams support a low-pitched roof with four curved brackets to kingposts. Four stone corbels on each side carry curved brackets to kingposts.

The chancel arch is a plain 13th-century structure with double-chamfered and rebated profile.

The north arcade comprises two 13th-century bays with octagonal piers and responds having moulded caps and small bases, with chamfered and rebated arches. The north wall contains a rectangular aumbry in a rebated surround. The east window features stained glass dating to around 1900. The south wall has, to the east, a small moulded 13th-century piscina and a 13th-century triple detached-shaft sedilia with roll-moulded arches, leaf capitals, and leaf stops to the hoodmould. To the west is a window with 1871 stained glass. The roof is close-boarded from the 19th century with kingposts and pierced decoration in the spandrels.

The north aisle has a close-boarded 19th-century roof and, to the east, a half-arch from the 13th century giving access to the north aisle chapel. The north aisle chapel is partitioned with 19th-century panelling forming an organ chamber and vestry, with a close-boarded 19th-century roof.

The south aisle features two reset 13th-century corbels in the east and south walls, and a piscina in a square chamfered reveal. It has a close-boarded 19th-century roof.

Fittings include a 19th-century font with an octagonal bowl on five polished marble shafts with foliate bases and caps; remains of a 13th-century tub font survive in the north-west corner of the nave. There is a panelled carved wooden pulpit from the 19th century, a carved oak eagle lectern from the early 20th century, and plain 19th-century pews throughout. The chancel contains five classical memorial tablets from the 18th and 19th centuries; the south aisle has four 19th-century memorial tablets, and a memorial brass from 1904 is located at the tower arch.