Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

The Church of All Saints at Wyton is a formerly parochial church of considerable architectural interest, spanning from the early 13th century to the 19th century. The building comprises an early 13th-century nave, a 14th-century chancel, and 19th-century additions including a north aisle, north vestry, south-west tower, and south porch.

The walls are constructed principally of pebble-rubble and narrow coursed rubble-stone, with Barnack stone and clunch dressings used for decorative elements. The south-west tower, dated 1866, is of stone ashlar and rises in three stages topped by a small broach spire. The tower features angle buttresses, a quatrefoil blind opening to the first stage, and at the belfry stage shallow recessed panels with two trefoil openings with pointed heads. The cornice displays quatrefoil decoration and nail head ornament. The roofs of the nave and chancel are plain-tiled and leaded, with gable end parapets finished in stone coping. A 19th-century stone cornice with foliate, mask, and floral boss enrichments runs along the building.

The 19th-century west window comprises four trefoil lights with tracery in a two-centred head. The late 14th-century south doorway has two moulded orders in a two-centred head with label and foliate stops, restored in the 19th century. The south wall of the nave contains one 19th-century window and one 15th-century window of three cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head and moulded label. The 19th-century south porch is gabled.

The 14th-century chancel has a south wall that is partially early 13th-century. Its south wall preserves an early 13th-century doorway in a two-centred arch with moulded label, mask stops, and moulded imposts with four dog-tooth ornaments on each side. One late 14th-century window has two cinquefoil lights with moulded label. An early 16th-century window contains three cinquefoil lights in a four-centred head with moulded label. The east window is late 14th-century, comprising three cinquefoil lights with tracery in a two-centred head and moulded label. The north wall of the chancel has a late 13th-century window of two pointed lights with moulded label and mask stops. The 19th-century north vestry incorporates a reset 14th-century window of two trefoil ogee lights with remains of quatrefoil and two-centred head, now cut off horizontally.

The 19th-century north aisle features five two-stage buttresses and is lit by three 19th-century lancet windows, which are framed by a moulded brick band at impost height forming labels. A reset 13th-century doorway in the north aisle has a two-centred arch of two moulded orders with moulded label and foliated stops. The inner order is roll-moulded while the outer order has detached restored shafts with moulded capitals and bases carved with stiff leaf foliage. Moulded hold-water bases and abaci continue round the inner order as imposts. The door itself is of 19th-century deal fitted with 13th-century wrought ironwork displaying foliated ends, a dog's head, and a harpy.

Interior

The chancel roof, dating from the 19th century, rests on late 14th-century stone corbels. The 14th-century chancel arch is two-centred with three moulded orders and moulded label. The responds consist of two chamfered orders with attached shafts having moulded and embattled capitals enriched with carved paterae and lion and human faces. Moulded bases continue round the responds.

The nave roof is 19th-century. The early 13th-century north arcade comprises four bays with two-centred arches of two moulded orders. The two eastern piers each have four keeled shafts divided by subsidiary shafts, all with moulded capitals carved with stiff leaf foliage, common octagonal abaci, moulded hold-water bases, and square plinths. The east respond has an attached half-column. The westernmost pier is octagonal with similar foliage to the capital and bases. The west respond has an attached half-octagonal column with carved leaves on the capital.

Two monuments are noteworthy: the north wall of the chancel bears a slate monument to the Ainsworth family dated 1717, and the south wall holds a limestone monument to the Hildersley family dated 1726, featuring fluted pilasters with entablature and swan's neck pediment.