Church Of All Saints With St John

Church of All Saints with St John is a parish church built 1893-95 by architects Paley, Austin and Paley of Lancaster, replacing an earlier building destroyed by fire in 1891. The west tower was added in 1905 and the Memorial Chapel completed in 1934.

The church is constructed of pink Runcorn sandstone with plain clay tiled and lead roll roofs, designed in Northern Gothic Revival perpendicular style. It comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, aisles, north-west porch, and south chapel.

Exterior

The west tower has three main stages with a half-octagonal stair turret on the north side, angle buttresses set back from the corners, and moulded plinth and bands. The west door sits under a shallow three-centred arch with moulded and splayed surrounds. A dripmould runs over adjacent arcading and the doorhead, carved with poppy heads. Above is a west window with five lights and rectilinear tracery, splayed moulded jambs and head, and dripmould. The second stage features a two-light traceried window with traceried head and spandrels, flat dripmould, and clock faces on all sides. The third stage has two louvred two-light traceried openings on most faces (only one on the north) with splayed chamfered reveals, segmental heads and coupled arched dripmoulds. A band of traceried panelled ornament sits below a moulded and carved band with diagonally set carved gargoyles at the corners. Above is a traceried castellated parapet with crocketed pinnacles at the corners and centres of each side. The embattled stair turret is topped with a lead-covered chevron pattern octagonal spirelet.

The north and south aisles are divided into bays by projecting buttresses with offsets above a moulded sill band. Each aisle has three-light rectilinear traceried windows, with eaves gutters supported on curved iron brackets. The north aisle terminates in a projecting two-storeyed hexagonal north-west porch with buttresses at each corner, a bold moulded sill band, and two-light traceried windows. The north-west face has an arched opening with ogee moulded jambs and twin wrought-iron gates. Small lancets in the centre of each face are flanked by checkerboard masonry of cream and pink sandstone. Parapets with offset coping conceal the roof. The south aisle terminates in a chamfered corner with a three-light window matching those of the main south elevation.

The nave clerestory has two two-light flat-headed traceried windows in each bay. Projecting octagonal turrets with embattled tops and low stone domes mark the line of the crossing within. A low parapet to the roof is heightened over the chancel clerestory and features carved panels.

The projecting north transept has a five-light window at right under a parapeted lean-to roof, with a taller gabled projection at left containing a high-level window. Beyond this drops down to a low parapeted single-storey vestry with two and three-light windows. A moulded band with rosettes and grotesques runs above a panelled door in a low ogee arch with shallow mouldings. The dripmould, pinnacles and band above are carved with freely flowing poppy heads.

The south aisle runs into the south chapel, which has three bays subdivided by buttresses with offsets, angle buttresses at corners, and two-light windows with rectilinear tracery set within outer arched reveals with segmental pointed arches. It has a parapeted roof.

The east end has a low gabled parapeted roof to the south chapel at left, with a four-light rectilinear traceried window, pinnacle surround, dripmould, and central niche above. The chancel window has seven lights with heavy moulded mullions giving a 2:3:2 subdivision. It features rectilinear tracery with a three-centred arched head, dripmould, tall buttresses with offsets left and right, and a panel above with four recessed blank panels with ogee tracery under flat heads. Above is a moulded parapet with a small upswept centre and setback gable with an octagonal turret on the left, a central two-light vent within a traceried surround, and a projecting cross finial above.

Interior

The interior is exposed Runcorn sandstone throughout. The tower has large octagonal piers with moulded and splayed plinth, a lofty moulded west arch strengthened by a wrought-iron tie rod, and an octagonal vault supported on attached castellated half-octagonal colonnettes.

The nave and chancel arcade has six bays with octagonal columns with moulded bases, capitals with roll mouldings, and double arches with chamfer and dripmould above. Two-light clerestory windows provide additional light. The roof has moulded tie beams with queen posts and collars on bay lines, roll moulded wall plates, purlins and ridges, and shallow flat common rafters with boarded soffit between.

The aisles have four bays with a fifth bay running through the north transept. Four-light windows are set above a panelled oak dado with pulvinated frieze and moulded top. The roofs have shallow moulded tie beam trusses with arch braces set on wall-mounted uprights and quadrant moulded purlins.

The south chapel, dedicated as the War Memorial Chapel by the Bishop of St Albans in April 1934, is separated from the church by a light oak glazed screen completed in 1962.

The chancel rises from the nave up two steps without a separating arch but is marked by a splayed pier against which two half-octagonal columns similar to the nave arcade are butted. The roof trusses are more elaborate, with tie beams, arched braces with rosettes and Tudor roses, pierced carved spandrels and queen struts. Bay subdivision is irregular with one bay plus arch with two windows on the north, two arcade bays and one window on the south. Capitals are carved with rosettes and foliage. The organ chamber occupies the second bay of the north transept, divided from it by a two-bay arcade. An elaborate oak case houses the Father Willis organ of 1899.

Fittings

An elaborate alabaster reredos carved with a panel of the Last Supper and figures of four saints was presented by R F Andrews in 1914. A small piscina with ogee arch and large carved poppy head sits in the south wall of the chancel, alongside twin sedilia. On the north wall is the foundation stone for rebuilding of the church, laid by Countess Cowper on 23 March 1893. Oak communion rails feature urn and bobbin balusters and a frieze carved with mouchettes, leaves and vines. Oak choir stalls have bench ends with fleur-de-lys finials. A half-octagonal sandstone pulpit is attached to the north pier dividing the chancel from the nave, with octagonal columns, a carved band with foliated bosses, carved front with tracery, and moulded top rail. The font is of polished fossil limestone with an octagonal basin on a column with attached rolls and shafts, and has a naive wood cover carved by Vernon Hall for Christopher Perawne, Vicar 1960-66. The first four pews on the south side of the nave are for the Hertford Mayor and Corporation, with ends carved with crests of the Borough from the 16th and 20th centuries.

Stained Glass

The east window by Kempe (1900) commemorates George Pearson of Brickendon Bury. It has 14 major lights with figures of St John the Evangelist and other significant saints connected with the spread of Christianity, the true vine with cross, angels with emblems of the passion and Old Testament prophets above. Figures are set against rich backgrounds with vines and foliage in 15th-century style. The Memorial Chapel east window commemorates Matthew Skinner Longmore (died 1878) with figures of SS Stephen, Peter, Paul and Matthew in stained and painted glass in 16th-century Flemish style. The first window on the south wall depicts SS Elizabeth and John the Baptist, Eunice and Timothy; the second illustrates the Annunciation, given in memory of Osmond Henry McMullen and his wife circa 1920. The south aisle south-west window has six main lights in 16th-century Flemish style with figures of the Virgin Mary and SS Simon, Malachi, Luke, Habakkuk and Anna. The south aisle window in memory of Charles Bickers (1807-93) shows scenes of the Annunciation, Christ with St John, Mary and St Anne, and figures of prophets.

Memorials

Two fragmentary brasses retrieved from the earlier church are displayed on the north aisle wall: one to John Hunger (died 143?), master cook to Katherine, wife of Henry V, and another to Thomas Boose (died 1456). The War Memorial Chapel contains a wall memorial to the First Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment, designed in 1921 by Sir Reginald Blomfield. It features a black marble surround with white marble tablet inscribed with names of the fallen above a truncated obelisk carved with the County crest, standards, drums and kit entwined with oak and bay leaves, with ball finials at the sides surmounted with flames.

Historical Note

All Saints Parish dates from before the 10th century. In the 11th century it was joined with the Liberty of Brickendon, which was held by Waltham Abbey under a charter from Edward the Confessor. The old All Saints church had been rebuilt in the 15th century and was cruciform in plan with a west tower, a peal of eight bells, and an organ with west gallery built in 1678. This church caught fire on 21/22 December 1891 and was completely gutted. The Corn Exchange was used as a temporary church for three years. Although rebuilding the original was considered, it was decided to construct an entirely new building. Paley, Austin and Paley, one of the major practices from north-west England, were chosen. Edward Graham Paley (1823-95) had been educated at Bluecoat School, and his partners were Hubert James Austin (1841-1915) and Henry Anderson Paley (1860-1946), son of E G Paley. The insurance of the old building yielded only £2,800. Building took place in two stages, with the first phase (omitting the tower) costing £12,500, dedicated by the Bishop of St Albans on 20 February 1895. The tower cost £12,000 and was completed in 1905 as the Victoria Tower in memory of Queen Victoria. The Memorial Chapel was dedicated in 1934.