Church Of All Saints

A parish church of medieval date, substantially built in the 14th and 15th centuries, with later alterations and restorations.

The chancel was rebuilt following a contract dated 1348 between the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's and Thomas Rykelyng, a stone mason. The nave and aisles were rebuilt in the later 14th century, while the west tower and south porch date to the early 15th century. The tower was buttressed in the 17th century. The church was restored in 1832 and again in 1875 by Edmund Christian; the tower and south porch were restored in 1908–9.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with some knapped flint, stone dressings, and red brick tower buttresses. The nave and aisle roofs are leaded; the chancel roof is tiled.

Exterior

The chancel has a restored three-light east window with a pointed arched traceried head and hood mould. A plinth and string course at sill level run across the wall, with a steeply pitched roof and diagonal buttresses. The south side has two two-light 14th-century windows with pointed arched panel traceried heads and hood moulds; the eastern window is shorter. An intermediate buttress stands between them, each with separate string courses at sill level. The north side has two similar windows flanking a 19th-century inserted arch, now blocked.

The nave is longer and wider with a shallow pitched roof and a coped parapet to the east, topped with a ridge cross. The clerestory has two small 15th-century two-light square-headed windows at the east end, formerly lighting the rood loft.

The north aisle has two two-light 14th-century windows with pointed arched hexafoil traceried heads. To the right of centre is a door with a triple moulded pointed arched surround and mask-stopped hood moulds. To the left of a central buttress is a large 19th-century two-light square-headed window. The aisle has end buttresses and a coped parapet. The east end of the north aisle contains a 19th-century three-light square-headed window.

The south aisle, flanking the porch, has two large 19th-century three-light windows with four-centred arched heads; the one to the left has a traceried head. End buttresses and a coped parapet complete the aisle. At the south aisle's east end is a 14th-century window with three ogee-headed lights and curvilinear tracery in an almost round arched head.

The large south porch has a two-centred head to a moulded outer arch with semi-octagonal responds, caps and bases, and diagonal buttresses. A shallow gable and coped parapet crown the structure. The returns have two-light windows with cinquefoiled lights in square heads and hood moulds. The inner entrance is a moulded pointed arch with hood mould.

The west tower comprises three stages, each slightly set back from the one below, originally unbuttressed with a moulded plinth. A 19th-century west entrance with a pointed arch in a square surround is below a tall 19th-century two-light window with a pointed arched head. Four raking angle buttresses rise to the second stage. The south side of the second stage has a trefoil-headed lancet and a clock on the west face. The belfry has two-light openings with pointed arched hexafoiled heads. A cornice and plain coped parapet run above, topped with a low pyramidal roof and weathervane finial.

Interior

The chancel arch is two-centred with two hollow moulded orders to semi-octagonal responds with caps and bases. The tower arch is taller and four-centred, with two hollow moulded orders and an outer quirked wave moulded order, half-column responds with moulded caps and bases.

The nave has four-bay arcades with pointed arches, double chamfered with broach stops over the piers. Hood moulds run the length, with small carved masks to the south. The octagonal piers have moulded caps and bases. The nave and aisle roofs have been rebuilt using some old tie beams. In the north aisle to the west is a moulded principal with an early boss.

The four-bay chancel roof has cambered tie beams with crown posts and two-way curved braces, ceiled in the 19th century above the wall and crown plates.

The chancel north wall contains a 14th-century Easter sepulchre with a depressed arched head, moulded surround with crocketed ogee finials, and floral ornament. The south wall has an ogee-headed piscina and a triple ogee-headed crocketed and cusped sedilia, probably reset. The south aisle south wall at the east end has a piscina with a cusped pointed arched head and credence shelf. The north aisle north wall at the east end has a concave recess for an image; opposite, on the southeast wall, is another piscina with a cinquefoiled head and hood mould.

An early 17th-century pulpit stands at the northeast corner of the nave, octagonal and richly carved with brackets to the reading board.

A 15th-century chancel screen, of five bays with the centre section open, features a dado with cusped panels and moulded base. The open upper sections have cusped ogee heads with panel tracery and crocketing above.

The font in the south aisle has a 14th or 15th-century octagonal stem with four octagonal outer shafts with simply moulded caps and bases; the bowl is 19th or early 20th-century.

Ten 15th-century benches with poppy-head finials to the ends occupy the west end of the nave. These retain their original seats with panelled backs and moulded rails at the heads.

Monuments and Fittings

Brass figures in the nave floor at the east end commemorate John Fitz-Geffrey (died 1480), depicted in armour with his wife, children, and shields.

The chancel south wall has a marble cartouche to Edmund Nicholas (died 1683) and an alabaster epitaph to Edmund Moryson (died 1626), with term figures in the jambs and a carved surround.

The south aisle wall at the west end features an aedicule to N.F. Miller (died 1747), possibly by Henry Cheere, with various marbles and a bust in a recess, flanking seraphs, and a cartouche of arms in a pedimented head with an urn finial and epitaph below.

A floor slab in the nave at the east end commemorates Edmund Nicholas (died 1683) with relief arms.

Fragments of medieval glass appear at the heads of the north aisle windows and the south aisle east window.

The 1348 contract specifies the number of lights for each window, buttresses, a priest's door, and payment of 20 marks and the stone for the chancel.