Church of St. Mary and All Saints

Church of St. Mary and All Saints

A grade I listed parish church in Bingham on Church Street. The building was largely constructed between 1225 and the 16th century, with major restorations undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries. The nave and chancel were restored by G.G. Scott in 1845. In 1873, the porch was restored, a clerestorey was added and the nave was re-roofed. Further restoration by W.D. Caröe took place in 1912.

The church is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. It comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, north transept, south transept, south porch and baptistry.

The west tower is two-staged with a moulded plinth, string course and corbel table decorated with ballflower and masks. Four gargoyles project from the tower, and it has a low parapet with two figures and two pinnacles. The tower is buttressed with shallow clasp buttresses and four pairs of corner buttresses, each with five setoffs. The south, west and north sides have small gabled buttresses. The tower is topped by a setback octagonal spire with three tiers of four lucarnes, each containing a double lancet with quatrefoil head, above which sits a weathercock and finial. The first stage has to the south two stair lights and a 13th-century lancet. To the west is a doorway with segmental head containing an 18th-century plank door with a lintel inscribed 'J B R T 1729'. A central buttress contains a 19th-century lancet, and to the north is a single lancet. The second stage has on each side two double lancets dating from the early 14th century, with shafts and Y tracery, hood moulds and stops. Clocks sit above each.

The nave clerestorey, added in 1873, has eaves decorated with ballflower and a coped east gable. On each side are three quatrefoil openings.

The north aisle has three bays with a pair of corner buttresses to the west and two buttresses to the north, all with two setoffs. The north side features a central pointed doorway flanked by single lancets, all restored in the 19th century with hood moulds and stops. The north transept dates to around 1400 and has a coped gable with kneelers and two pairs of corner buttresses with two setoffs. The north gable has a 19th-century quadruple lancet in Decorated style with hood mould and mask stops. The east side has a partly obliterated 15th-century quadruple lancet with four-centred arched head and panel tracery. Adjoining the north transept is a late 19th-century organ chamber with a slate lean-to roof and coped gables, featuring a double lancet to the east.

The chancel has three bays with a moulded plinth, sill band, chamfered eaves and coped gable with cross. The north side has a central buttress flanked by single restored 14th-century lancets with Decorated tracery, hood moulds and mask stops. The east end has two pairs of corner buttresses with two setoffs plus plinths, and a 15th-century quadruple lancet with four-centred arched heads and cusped panel tracery. The south side has two buttresses and three windows similar to those on the north side. To the left is a recessed moulded doorway with hood mould and mask stops containing a restored 18th-century Gothick door.

The south transept has a pair of corner buttresses to the south and a single buttress to the east. It has a coped gable with kneelers. The east side has two 19th-century lancets in Decorated style. The south side has a restored 14th-century quadruple lancet with transom and intersecting tracery and hood mould. To the left are the remains of a corner buttress. An adjoining vestry has a buttress to the left and a coped gable. The south gable has four rectangular blocked openings at ground level with chamfered reveals, and above is a 19th-century triple lancet in Decorated style with ogee heads and flowing tracery, hood mould and mask stops.

The south porch has a pair of corner buttresses with two setoffs, a coped gable with kneelers and cross, and a restored 14th-century south doorway with multiple cove and roll mouldings and responds with moulded capitals and bases. The adjoining lean-to baptistry has a single coped gable with kneeler and a pair of corner buttresses to the south-west. The south side has a 19th-century double lancet in Decorated style with hood mould and mask stops. The porch has a 19th-century purlin roof and to the north are 14th-century triple sedilia with chamfered trefoil heads and a bench with quatrefoil panels. Above are two pentagonal openings with naturalistic tracery. To the left is a 19th-century doorway. The inner doorway is chamfered and cove-moulded with hood mould and inserted 18th-century panelling and door. Above is a large foliate corbel.

The nave has north and south arcades of the early 14th century, each with five bays containing four octagonal piers with matching responds. The piers have moulded octagonal bases, some with water-holding bases. The arcades feature naturalistic foliate corbels, two crocketed and one with grotesque masks. The arches are double chamfered and rebated with hood moulds and mask stops. A principal rafter roof, rebuilt in 1873, features arch braces, wall shafts and foliate corbels. The north aisle has a 19th-century lean-to roof and two windows with 19th-century stained glass heads.

The baptistry has a similar roof and a similar window, a panelled dado from 1928 and traceried oak screens from 1933. The tower chamber has a 19th-century stained glass window to the west. The north transept has a stained glass window by A.R. Mowbray from 1848 and to its right a late 14th-century aumbry with trefoil head and moulded surround. It has a principal rafter roof similar to the nave. The south transept has a similar roof. To the east is a stained glass window by Kempe from 1888 and another by Frank Miles from 1883. The south end has to the left a restored 14th-century piscina and a central square recess, above which is a window with 19th-century patterned stained glass. The west side has a blocked pointed opening. The vestry has a restored 15th-century roof with arch braces featuring nailhead decoration and octagonal wall shafts and corbels. The east side has a tomb recess with four-centred arched head and above a blocked pointed opening. The south window contains some 20th-century stained glass.

The 14th-century chancel arch was restored in 1873 and is double chamfered and rebated with hood mould, mask stops and responds with water-holding bases. To its right is a canopied oak figure from 1928. The screen has a 15th-century lower part with inscribed panels and above are traceried openings with inscribed transom and crest designed as a war memorial by W.D. Caröe in 1921.

The chancel was restored in 1873 and has a principal rafter roof with arch braces on large angel corbels. The north side has to the west an unglazed 14th-century traceried opening into the organ chamber, and to the east a panelled dado incorporating an aumbry. The east end has similar dado and an elaborate stepped reredos in 15th-century style by W.D. Caröe from 1925. The east window has stained glass by Mrs. Robert Miles from 1873. The south side has to the east a combined piscina and triple sedilia dating to around 1300, with a bracketed bowl and cusped trefoil heads. Above are two windows with 19th-century stained glass.

The fittings include chamfered 19th-century benches, roll-moulded benches with ogee ends and foliate finials, and canopied choir stalls by W.D. Caröe from 1913. There is a carved octagonal oak memorial pulpit on an ashlar base from 1916, a buttressed oak lectern with pyramid bookstand and figure finial from around 1921, and a 12th-century font which was re-cut and given a new base in 1926. The font has a stepped conical timber cover with six turned balusters from 1932. A bench incorporates two 15th-century bench ends with lozenge finials.

The monuments include a 13th-century effigy of Sir John de Bingham, marble and slate tablets from 1771, 1773 and 1804, and brasses referring to the clock of 1871 and the restoration of 1873.