Church Of All Saints

CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS

Parish church now in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust, formerly listed as the Church of Holy Cross. Built circa 1500. Constructed of coursed limestone, limestone rubble and fieldstone with limestone dressings. The roofs are concealed by embattled and blocked parapets dating from circa 1638. The plan comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles with chapels, and chancel.

West Tower

Built of coursed limestone ashlar, the tower rises in four stages on a splayed plinth. A band of quatrefoil ornament runs around the plinth. Clasping half octagonal panelled angle turrets rise at the corners, terminating in crocketed pinnacles. The embattled parapet features a main cornice with a central gargoyle and a quatrefoil frieze.

The west doorway is set in a two-centred arch with continuous ogee and hollow mouldings on a high base. The west window contains a four-centred arch with an embattled transome and five trefoil lights to each stage, with a moulded label and return stops. The bell stage openings comprise four lights divided by a mullion and transome, with trefoil heads to each opening and four-centred arches with labels and return stops. Round windows with raised surrounds enriched with foliate or round ornament are set in both the north and south walls.

Nave

Dating to the early 15th century, the nave is built of fieldstone, rubblestone and limestone dressings. The clerestory on each side contains three windows of three trefoil lights in four-centred ogee-moulded arches. The fourth window at the west end contains five similar lights.

South Aisle and Chapel

The south aisle has three windows containing four cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery in four-centred arches. At the east end stands the south chapel, built at the same date. Originally a family chapel of the Cotton family and subsequently of the Heathcote family, its east wall contains a window of five lights similar to those on the south wall. A newel stair turret set in the south wall leads to the rood loft. This turret is constructed of rubble, fieldstone and brick, with upper courses of coursed limestone. It is topped by a stone polygonal roof surmounted by a tiled and foliated finial. The doorway features a four-centred outer arch.

The south porch is shallow in depth with a gabled stone-tiled roof and parapet. Its four-centred ogee-moulded outer arch frames a south door dating to the 16th century. The door is made of oak planks with studding and moulded cover strips, retaining original long strap hinges.

Chancel

The chancel dates to the 15th century but is of earlier date than the nave. It is built of rubble and fieldstone with limestone dressings. The south wall contains one window of three trefoil lights with vertical tracery and a dropped pointed arch. The east wall and east window have been restored. The north wall of the church is similar to the south.

Interior

A 19th-century vault has been inserted into the ground stage of the tower to form a porch. The springers of this vaulting are medieval but represent an insertion. The tower arch is two-centred with one chamfered order and two chamfered ribs on the soffit, springing from semi-octagonal shafts with moulded capitals. The second stage also contains a modern vault.

The nave arcade comprises four bays with the westernmost bay being wider. The arches are two-centred with an outer order of continuous ogee moulding and an inner order on three grouped shafts to the responds. On the north and south sides of the piers, engaged shafts carry the corbels of the roof jackposts. The roof spans four bays and a half bay, with tiebeams, purlins and bracing all moulded. The north and south aisles are similar to the nave, each featuring an arched opening similar to the nave arcade at the entrance to the respective chapels. Their roofs are also similar with jackposts having shafted corbels. The chancel arch carries the mouldings of the nave arcade. The chancel roof is 19th-century in construction but 15th-century in style.

In the south wall is a three-seat sedilia with trefoil two-centred arches to each bay in a square head, each bay being vaulted. A piscina of the same period adjoins.

The font is 15th-century limestone with an octagonal bowl featuring panelled sides with intersecting arcading. The base is 19th-century.

Monuments and Fittings

South Aisle

A wall monument to Thomas Cotton (died 1519) and Joan Paris, his wife, has its inscription reset in a 17th-century monument with Corinthian columns supporting an entablature with a shield of arms. A double wall monument in limestone dating to the early 17th century commemorates Thomas Cotton (died 1517) and Lucy Harvey, his wife, and Thomas Cotton (died 1592) and Elizabeth Shirley, his wife. It is arranged in two bays with half-round arches in square heads, each displaying a shield of arms and divided by Corinthian columns. The plinth is enriched with heraldic emblems and strapwork ornament, and the entablature, similarly enriched, is surmounted by a shield of arms.

A 15th-century oak screen stands in the south aisle. Its open upper stage retains some original tracery and embattled shafts between the three bays. The closed lower panels are more intact.

South Chapel

A marble wall monument to Thomas Cotton dating to 1662 features a bust in relief in a roundel with a pediment above and garland below with inscription. A white marble wall monument to Robert Cotton, the antiquary (died 1631), displays a bust in relief in an oval surround with pediment, shield of arms and garland. On the floor is an effigy of a knight in monks habit, dating to the late 13th to late 14th century, carved in Purbeck marble. Remaining monuments commemorate 19th-century members of the Heathcote family.

North Chapel

A pink and white marble wall monument to John Cotton (died 1702) features a bust in relief flanked by palms held by winged cherubs on a pink marble gadrooned base. The cherubs support a curtain bearing the inscription.

North Aisle

A two-storey limestone cenotaph to David, Prince of Scotland and Earl of Huntingdon, dating to the early 17th century, comprises two bays divided by Corinthian columns with entablature. The upper stage has one bay with a round-headed arch flanked by Corinthian columns with supporters and a shield of arms. All bays are vacant. The inscription below bears the words Imperator, Rex Franciae, Anglo-Saxonum, Angliae, Scotiae.

A cenotaph to Prince Henry of Scotland, Lord of Conington, also dating to the early 17th century, features Corinthian columns flanking a blind recess and supporting an entablature with a shield of arms.

At the west end of the north aisle is a white marble wall monument to Elizabeth Cotton (died 1702), featuring a bust of the deceased in relief flanked by palms held by winged cherubs who support the curtain below bearing the inscription. A similar monument commemorates Sir John Cotton, also dated 1702. These monuments are comparable to the Cotton monument at Conington near Cambridge, dated 1697 and signed by Grinling Gibbons.