Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This is a parish church at Kings Langley with a complex building history. The chancel dates from the 13th century, while the nave is earlier but was substantially altered by the construction of a 14th-century north aisle and its subsequent early 15th-century alteration to an arcade. The south aisle and south chapel were rebuilt at the same period. A north chapel and tower were added in the later 15th century. In 1878 a northeast chapel was built to house the 14th-century tomb of Edmund of Langley. A choir vestry and north porch were added in 1894. The church underwent partial restoration in 1899, when the clerestory and top of the tower were renewed. A large polygonal church room and related structures were linked to the south side in 1976.

The building is constructed of flint with dressings of Tottenhoe stone and is covered with steep red tile roofs. The church is largely Perpendicular in style and has been much restored. It consists of a stocky west tower with diagonal buttresses, battlements and a spike, a three-bay nave with aisles and a clerestory, and a lower chancel flanked by chapels with a northeast chapel and southeast vestry aligned with the east end of the chancel.

The chancel features a 13th-century double piscina with shelves, a west window of 1877 in 15th-century style, and a two-bay 15th-century four-centred arcade on the north with engaged shafts opening to the north chapel. A two-bay early 15th-century south arcade has octagonal piers. The east side retains the jamb of a 13th-century lancet window, a late 19th-century chancel arch, and an elaborate carved alabaster reredos of 1878 designed by Joseph Clarke.

The north chapel contains two late 15th-century square-headed north windows, each with four cinquefoil lights, and a small window. A carved wooden screen separates it from the north aisle. In a raised 19th-century section at the east stands the late 14th-century altar tomb of Edmund of Langley, son of Edward III. This tomb was originally in the dissolved Friary church, moved to the chancel of this church around 1539, and relocated to this specially built chapel in 1878. Queen Victoria presented the armorial east window. The tomb has alabaster sides on a Purbeck marble plinth with carved shields on three sides, painted heraldically on the west face. The present top slab is part of an altar retaining three of its original five crosses; what may be the original slab is set into the floor of the north chapel with an indent of a woman's figure, near some medieval encaustic floor tiles. The chapel also contains the chest tomb of Sir Ralph Verney, who died in 1528, with his wife and effigies, and a brass of John Carter, who died in 1588, with two wives, nine sons and nine daughters. A Queen Victoria Memorial Window of 1901 by Clayton & Bell is present, along with fragments of old heraldic glass from the former east window. On the north wall stands a large stone memorial to Mary Elizabeth Crawford, who died in 1793, signed 'Bonomi inv Westmacott sculp', featuring a small medallion, weeping putto and garlands.

The south chapel is largely occupied by the organ, which obscures a piscina. It has a 19th-century west window but retains a 15th-century south window of four lights.

The nave has three bays with early 15th-century arcades and a clerestory of six two-light windows rebuilt in the late 19th century. A hexagonal early 17th-century panelled and carved oak pulpit with tester and elaborately carved back stands in the nave. The tower arch is of late 15th-century date.

The north aisle contains a two-light Decorated window of around 1340 on the west wall, and the north wall may date from the same period. Two square-headed north windows have renewed tracery of three trefoil-headed lights. A north doorway has continuous moulding. The south aisle has a 13th-century piscina, a south window of three cinquefoil-headed lights, and a 15th-century south doorway with continuous moulding. Stained glass depicting Mary and Martha by Ward & Hughes dates to 1876. A late 19th-century west window is also present.

The three-stage west tower has a renewed west door and a three-light 15th-century west window within a blocked arch of a larger window. Two-light trefoil-headed windows pierce the north and south sides. Four 15th-century bell chamber openings are similar in design. The buttresses are much repaired using tiles in Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings technique. A stained glass west window by Powell dates to 1908.