Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a parish church primarily dating to the 13th century, with a core that may be from the mid-12th century. It was restored and extended in 1873 by Frederick Chancellor. The church consists of an undivided 13th-century nave and chancel, a 19th-century north porch and a south vestry. The building is constructed of flint, puddingstone, septaria, and brick, with a red plain tiled roof, pierced ridge tiles, weatherboarded and shingled spire, and coloured floor tiles.

The chancel features a 19th-century east window of three cusped lights with reticulated tracery and a two-centred arch. Buttresses flank the northeast and southeast angles. The south wall has cusped two-light windows with tracery, two-centred heads, and moulded labels, altered in 1873. A restored lancet window sits to the west of the vestry. The 1873 vestry has a small pointed arch window and angle buttresses, with the remains of a former stove chimney stack. A small 13th-century lancet window is positioned to the west of the south doorway, which itself is a restored 19th-century design featuring moulded shafts, imposts, and a two-centred head. The west wall has two 19th-century stone-dressed lancet windows with coloured brick and tile relieving arches above; a circular gable window is also present, incorporating brick, flint, and stone dressings, and a stone trefoil panel at the apex. The north wall has three 13th-century lancet windows, alongside a largely 19th-century window of two cusped lights with tracery in a two-centred head, with a 14th-century rear splay. A gabled 19th-century north porch has timber supports on a flint and rubble plinth, pierced bargeboards to the gable, and a scissor-braced roof. The doorway has two moulded shafts and imposts.

Inside, the chancel roof is barrel vaulted with moulded wall plates. The nave roof is of seven cants with moulded and crenellated wall plates. The western tie beam supports the belfry, with central arched braces to the collar. The nave also features a 14th-century piscina in the north wall, situated under an inserted window and accompanied by a cut-away cill, possibly indicating a former sedilia. Other interior features include 19th-century carved and moulded altar rails, carved pews with poppy heads, an octagonal stone pulpit with pierced two-light panels, a 19th-century organ with painted pipes, and an octagonal font likely dating to the early 13th century. The font consists of a Purbeck marble bowl with two-centred arched sunk panels, chamfered angles and rim, supported on central and angle columns, and sits upon a later plain octagonal base. The base of a former late 19th-century chancel stove, originally described as a tomb slab, is also present. Prior to 1873, the vestry was attached to the south side of the nave.

Records indicate the church was given to Beeleigh Abbey in 1299, though physical evidence suggests an earlier, mid-12th-century origin. The arrangement of the piscina and sedilia suggests the nave was used as a parochial church while the chancel served the monks. Surviving plans document the church before and after Chancellor’s proposed alterations.