Parish Church Of All Saints

Parish Church of All Saints, Buckworth

This parish church is noted for its very fine early 14th-century tower and broach spire. The earliest remains are 12th-century work visible in the eastern angles of the nave, which includes a slender attached shaft with incised spiral fluting at the north-east quoin and a volute capital. The south arcade and south aisle date to the late 13th century, while the tower and spire were built around 1300 and the north aisle and arcade around 1310. The south aisle and north wall of the north aisle were rebuilt around 1490, with the clerestory and porch added at the same period. The church underwent restoration in 1862, the spire in 1884 and 1925, and the tower was repaired in 1908.

The building is constructed of limestone rubble with limestone dressings, except for the ashlar tower. The roofs of the nave and aisles are leaded, whilst the chancel has a plain tiled roof.

The south-facing elevation features a four-stage tower with angle buttresses rising to a cornice. A lancet window appears in the second stage, whilst the third stage displays a very fine circular window with moulded label and geometric tracery. The belfry stage has a wall arcade of three two-centred arches resting on engaged jamb-shafts at each end and grouped triple-shafts between the bays. The centre bay contains a two-light window with plain spandrels, and the heads of the flanking arches are cusped with carved heads at the cuspings. The octagonal spire has large broaches with bases of pinnacles at each corner, and features three tiers of spire lights, the first similar to the belfry light but taller. The clerestory contains three bays with two-light windows in four-centred arches and a plain parapet to the low-pitched roof. The aisle has a similar parapet, comprising four buttressed bays with three three-light windows in four-centred arches. The porch features angle buttresses and a two-centred moulded arch with moulded jambs, jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The chancel has a three-light window with intersecting tracery in a two-centred head, with a blocked area indicating a similar former window. The chancel doorway has a two-centred arch resting on shafts with moulded capitals and bases, beneath a steeply pitched plain tile roof.

Interior

The chancel arch, with jambs partly rebuilt, consists of two chamfered orders resting on modern responds. The nave arcades comprise three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders; the columns of the north arcade are octagonal. The modern nave roof dates to 1862, as recorded on a carved boss. Four large carved bosses, possibly from a 15th-century roof, include a green man, whilst the modern bosses are carved with arms and crests of the Duncombe Shafto family, the See of Ely and others. The tower arch has four orders with a two-centred arch. A piscina with a quatrefoil basin and two-centred arch has been reset. A small carved stone figure holding a book, discovered in the foundations of the chancel in 1907, has been set into the south wall of the chancel. The south door, possibly dating to the late 13th or early 14th century, was rehung in the late 15th century to open outwards and is composed of five v-edged boards with a rear frame of horizontal rails. A wall monument with skull and cross-bows commemorates William Stevenson, died 1711. A barrel organ used in the church in 1845 was converted into a vestment cupboard in 1905 and remains in the tower, having been replaced by an organ in the chancel in 1895.