Church Of All Saints

CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, STOCK

All Saints is a medieval parish church with 12th-century origins, substantially remodelled in the 15th century. It stands as one of Essex's finest examples of timber church architecture, notable particularly for its outstanding timber belfry tower.

The church is constructed of mixed rubble with some free-stone and pudding stone, with limestone dressings. The plan comprises a nave with a north aisle and north vestry, south porch, and west timber belfry tower, together with a chancel and north chapel.

The most striking external feature is the very fine timber west belfry tower, which rises from a wide lower storey weatherboarded in timber. A tall tower with a broach spire emerges from this lower stage, also weatherboarded. Both the north and south walls of the lower storey contain fine three-light 15th-century windows with timber tracery, and three square panels with cusped timber tracery sit above the west door. A probably late 17th-century addition on the east side of the tower connects to and rises over the nave roofline. The spire is topped with a dragon weathervane dated 1760.

The south nave windows are 15th-century in style, though much renewed in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 15th-century south porch is timber-framed with a four-centred doorway and elaborate, renewed bargeboards; internally it has a king post roof. The east and west faces of the porch contain ogee arched openings. The south door is probably late 14th-century.

The north aisle is now largely concealed externally by the north vestry added in 1989, which matches the church's style. It retains a much renewed 15th-century window towards the east end and another at the west end, with two small trefoiled lights in the west gable. The 19th-century chancel and north-east chapel are executed in a mixed Decorated and Perpendicular style.

Internally, the timber framing of the belfry tower is exposed. The main structure stands on four posts with curved braces at each stage and curved diagonal principals meeting at a boss carved with a Green Man (recoloured). The initials R.R. and E.H., dated 1683, are carved on the north-east post, probably referring to restoration and the construction of the tower's eastern extension.

The nave's west door, visible internally within the tower, dates to the 14th century. An organ stands on a painted 20th-century gallery at the west end of the nave. In the south-east corner of the nave, a brass to Richard Twedye (died 1577) is set in an arched recess that was probably originally a piscina. The 19th-century nave roof was restored after bomb damage in the Second World War and the ceiling retains painted decoration.

The 15th-century north arcade comprises four bays, though the west bay is considerably shorter than the others, possibly resulting from a setting out error. A pair of trefoiled lights in the east gable of the aisle, similar to those at the west end, now open internally. A door in the south-east corner of the north aisle, now functioning as a squint to the chancel, is a reworked late 14th or 15th-century rood stair door that retains traces of medieval paint. The north aisle possesses a fine three-bay king post roof with moulded and embattled wall plates.

The arch into the north chapel is 19th-century, executed in 14th-century style. The 19th-century chancel arch sits on Decorated-style corbels. The chancel roof dates to 1848 and was painted in the 20th century.

The church was largely refurnished in 1981 to designs by Laurence King. Furnishings and fixtures include chairs and simple choir stalls of that date, and a 15th-century bench with poppy heads preserved at the west end of the nave. A 15th-century stoup stands by the south door. The brass to Richard Twedye (died 1574), founder of the almshouses opposite the church, is set into what may have been a piscina in the south-east corner of the nave. A plain octagonal 15th-century font has a cover of 1970 by Francis Stephens. 18th-century turned altar rails survive from the Georgian period. Limewood rood figures by Gwynneth Holt, executed in 1955, stand in the north aisle. The church contains good mid-20th-century glass installed following wartime damage, including an east window by Reginald Bell (1948–50), three windows by M C Farrar Bell (1951–9), and a chancel south lancet by David Wasley (1986).

The church has Anglo-Saxon origins, as evidenced by earlier foundations discovered during 20th-century restorations, though the double-square plan of the nave suggests a 12th-century date. For much of its history, All Saints was a chapel dependent on the nearby church of St Mary, Buttsbury. The nave dates to the 12th century, with the earlier chancel presumed contemporary in origin. Some work was undertaken on the nave in the 14th century, and in the 15th century the church underwent significant remodelling, with the addition of the north aisle, south porch, and west belfry tower. The tower was extended eastwards in the later 17th century. The nave was restored and the chancel was rebuilt in 1847–8. The north chapel was added in 1904. Severe bomb damage in the Second World War necessitated substantial restoration. The north vestry was added in 1989.

The timber belfry is of a type common in this part of Essex, where readily available timber contrasted with the scarcity of good building stone.