Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This parish church, dating from around 1190, occupies a prominent position on the slopes of Grinshill Hill. The building was substantially restored in 1849, then largely rebuilt and enlarged in 1885–7 by the architect Charles J. Ferguson of Carlisle, funded by Mr J.J. Bibby and Mr T. Meares. The tower, spire and baptistery were added in 1892–4, also designed by Ferguson and funded by J.J. Bibby in memory of his wife. The church is constructed of dressed and ashlar red and grey Grinshill sandstone with plain tile roofs.

The building comprises a nave incorporating the 12th-century north and south walls, with a north porch, a chancel with north vestry, and a west tower crowned with a spire. The additions are executed in a Late Decorated style characteristic of the 19th century.

The tower rises in three stages with a chamfered plinth, chamfered offsets, and gabled angle buttresses with chamfered offsets. An octagonal stair turret projects to the south-west. The tower features a pierced parapet and crocketed corner pinnacles with flying buttresses rising to the spire. The broach spire carries two-light lucarnes on the cardinal faces, with smaller lucarnes on alternate faces higher up, and is topped with a finial and cross. The belfry openings are paired and louvred, each comprising two cusped lights with two orders of shafts and hoodmoulds with carved stops. Second-stage windows to north, south and west are two-light with hoodmoulds. The west window of the first stage is three-light, with mullions continuing straight through the tracery to the arch and a hoodmould with carved stops. A south doorway features a moulded four-centred arch with panelled doors. The south porch has a Tudor-arched entrance with carved spandrels, a blind two-light window to the left, and a rectangular window to the right. It is topped with a carved cornice, a parapet with traceried panels, and wrought-iron gates to the interior featuring a traceried-panelled vault inscribed "RING IN THE TRUE" and "RING OUT THE FALSE". A door to the stair turret is located above the porch. A nail-studded boarded north door gives access to the basement.

The nave has a chamfered plinth to the north, 14th-century and 19th-century buttresses, and a coved cornice. The east gable is parapeted with a cross at its apex. The south side displays three restored 14th-century windows, each with two trefoiled lights, chamfered reveals and hoodmoulds with carved stops. A 19th-century cinquefoil-headed lancet appears to the left with a hoodmould. A blocked 17th-century round-arched doorway, off-centre to the left, has chamfered reveals and a hoodmould with a carved head at its apex. The north side has a central pair of restored, probably 14th-century straight-headed windows with two cinquefoil-headed lights each. 19th-century cinquefoil-headed lancets flank these to left and right, each with a hoodmould. A 12th-century round-arched doorway, off-centre to the right, features dogtooth decoration, chamfered imposts, and one order of shafts with moulded bases and stiff-leaf capitals. A late 19th-century porch with a chamfered plinth and angle buttresses with offsets frames this doorway. The porch is topped with a parapeted gable with gabled kneelers and a cross at the apex. The entrance arch is moulded with carved decoration, supported by one order of shafts with moulded and carved capitals. A hoodmould with carved stops and a pair of slatted doors with strap hinges and chamfered reveals complete the composition. Inside the porch, a stone bench to the left is backed with a traceried panel.

The chancel has a chamfered plinth, coved cornice and parapeted gable end to the east with a cross at its apex. The south side features a central buttress, a cinquefoil-headed lancet to the left with a hoodmould, and a large window to the right with three cinquefoil-headed lights and a hoodmould with carved stops. A short piece of retaining wall adjoins to the right. The east end has a chamfered string course below the sill. A large window with three trefoiled ogee-headed lights, flowing cusped tracery, moulded reveals and a hoodmould with carved stops dominates this elevation.

The north vestry features two parapeted gables to the front and an integral lateral stone stack to the left with a pair of octagonal shafts. The left-hand block contains a window with three trefoiled ogee-headed lights. The right-hand block displays a blind cusped quatrefoil in the apex of its gable, a first-floor two-light square-headed window to the right, and a boarded door to the left with strap hinges and a four-centred chamfered arch. A wall projection at right angles to the left rises over an entrance to a crypt, returning as a retaining wall.

The interior is furnished with sumptuous late 19th-century fixtures and fittings. The roof structure comprises a five-bay nave roof and two-bay chancel roof with intermediate trusses; both feature arch-braced collar trusses resting on hammer beams with pierced spandrels, carved wooden angels, moulded brackets and stone corbels, and a panelled frieze. The tower arch has two continuous outer mouldings and half-octagonal inner shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals, supporting a moulded arch.

The baptistery beneath the tower possesses a stone lierne vault springing from carved angels at the corners, labelled "Pietas", "Charitas", "Spes" and "Fides", with carved bosses and a central circular panel. A south doorway features a carved wooden surround and a Lombardic frieze above with carved drops. A recessed window seat occupies the west side, and a string course to the north has carved stops.

The chancel arch has a continuous outer moulding and triple round inner shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals, supporting a moulded arch. A pair of arches in the north wall of the chancel contains the organ (left) and vestry access (right), separated by a central octagonal pier with moulded base and capital, and moulded arches. The east window is framed with a moulded rear arch, nook shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals, and a hoodmould with carved stops.

Rich furnishings adorn the chancel, including a wooden reredos with an alabaster copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, a panelled altar with marble top, sanctuary panelling, a recessed sedile with a traceried back panel and canopy, and brass and wooden altar rails. Elaborate wooden screens separate the organ chamber and vestry. Two sets of elaborately panelled and carved choir stalls feature poppy heads, some resembling upturned Ionic volutes. An integral wooden and stone pulpit and a free-standing carved wooden lectern occupy the chancel. The nave contains pews with traceried end panels, some incorporating elaborate wrought-iron donation boxes in the rear of those near the north door. Wainscot panelling lines the walls, and brass oil lamps (now electric) are suspended from the ceiling.

The baptistery is furnished with an octagonal stone font, said to be a copy of that in the parish church of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, topped with a wrought-iron canopy suspended from a ceiling boss. Wooden benches on three sides have turned baluster legs and backs.

An ogee-arched piscina adorns the vestry. A memorial beneath the tower is inscribed: "TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF SARAH BIBBY BORN 28 DEC 1817 DIED 19 MAY 1892 THIS TOWER AND SPIRE ARE DEDICATED BY HER HUSBAND JAMES JENKINSON BIBBY". The vestry contains two drawings by Ferguson of the tower and spire, signed and dated 1892.

The 1885–7 rebuilding work cost £5,000. J.J. Bibby, of the shipping family, lived at Sansaw.