Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This parish church originated in the 12th century and was developed through the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 19th centuries. It is built of coursed blue lias rubble with ashlar plinths, buttresses, organ chamber, and dressings; the tower is rendered. The roofs are of leaded and stone slab. The plan comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north and south porches, organ chamber, and vestry.

The west tower has two stages with a battlemented parapet containing four crocketed pinnacles. Two diagonal buttresses to the west have three setoffs plus a plinth. The west window has a 13th-century moulded opening with label mould containing a triple lancet with restored panel tracery. Above this are a clock and two round-headed openings on the south. The second stage has triple lancet bell openings with four-centred arched heads.

The north aisle and vestry, of 14th and 19th-century date, form a continuous range of four bays with a plinth and three buttresses of three setoffs each. Two windows are triple lancets with cusped quatrefoils in square-headed chamfered openings. The east window is a 15th-century triple lancet in a splayed four-centred arched opening with hood mould and mask stops. The west window is a 19th-century triple lancet with decorated tracery in a chamfered opening with plain hood mould.

The north porch is 13th-century, built of rubble with a slab roof, coped eaves, and a gable containing a corbelled niche. Two buttresses have gabled capitals. The doorway is 13th-century with double chamfer and cove moulding. The interior has a three-bay vaulted roof with two transverse cove-moulded pierced ribs and a 13th-century double-chamfered and rebated doorway containing an 18th-century panelled door with iron latch.

The nave clerestorey is 15th-century. On the north side are three double lancets with cusped heads and chamfered eaves. On the south side is a double lancet matching the north side and two larger triple lancets to the east with decorated tracery.

The chancel north side has a single four-centred arched opening containing a 14th-century double lancet with decorated tracery and a single square-headed light in a chamfered reveal in the eastern return angle. The east end has five lancets with decorated tracery in a four-centred arched opening with plain hood mould. The gable is coped with a cross. The south side has a sill band and an off-centre priests door with decorated spandrels and lintel, with sundials on each jamb. To the west is a triple lancet with decorated tracery and plain hood mould; to the east are two similar lancets, both blocked at the base.

The south aisle comprises three bays with three buttresses of three setoffs each and a moulded parapet at each end. Two windows are triple lancets with decorated tracery. The east end has a 19th-century triple lancet with panel tracery and hood mould with mask stops. The 15th-century south porch has a plinth, rendered walls, and a coped gable with 19th-century timber leaded roof. Two diagonal buttresses have two setoffs each. The doorway is four-centred arched. The south doorway has a 13th-century double-chamfered and rebated opening with hood mould and a narrow-panelled 18th-century door.

The nave north arcade is 13th-century with three bays. Each bay has a clustered pier with keeled major shafts, waterleaf and stiff-leaf capitals, and clustered responds with shaft rings. Two mask stops appear in the spandrels. The south arcade is also 13th-century with three bays, featuring clustered piers with keeled minor shafts and filleted major shafts. Moulded imposts have dogtooth ornament; the eastern impost has a mask corbel. Below the south arcade is a 14th-century double piscina in a rectangular chamfered surround with a detached octagonal shaft.

The nave roof is 19th-century with a low pitch, corbels carrying arch braces to tie beams, and arch braces to rafters, with decorative bosses.

The tower arch is 14th-century with double roll moulding and chamfer, with a mask at the apex. The triple shaft respond to the south has a keeled major shaft and moulded capital. The north respond has a stiff-leaf capital to the major shaft and additional projecting mask capitals to the minor shafts.

The tower arch screen is 19th-century with leaded glass and timber. The ringing chamber displays Royal Arms on canvas and two 19th-century commandment boards printed on steel.

The north aisle has three bays and two windows, with a 13th-century moulded and chamfered doorway to the vestry and a moulded and gilt pelmet to the north door. The east end has a small 14th-century piscina and two 15th-century incised slabs, along with a classical wall tablet dated 1772. The roof is low pitch and 19th-century with panelled timber. The south aisle contains memorial tablets of 1703, 1839, and seven later 19th and 20th-century tablets, together with an 18th-century panelled door with baroque pelmet.

The font has a round base with four octagonal columns carrying a plain octagonal bowl, and a panelled timber font cover of 17th-century date with intarsia decoration and chip carving.

The nave has a 19th-century panelled roof with six bays and painted panels.

The chancel arch is 13th-century with double chamfer and rebate, with clustered shaft responds with shaft rings and simple waterleaf capitals.

The chancel north side has a 19th-century organ chamber and a decorative timber reredos dated 1924. The south side has a rectangular piscina in a chamfered opening and a 15th-century priest's door, now fitted with a baroque pelmet. Beyond is a blocked round-headed doorway.

The chancel fittings include 19th-century choir stalls with ivy finials.

The chancel roof is 15th-century with five bays and a low pitch, with corbels carrying curved braces to principal rafters. The main timbers are roll and cove-moulded.

The church contains various stained glass windows of late 19th and 20th-century date.