Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

Parish church at Necton on School Road. The building is chiefly of 14th and 15th century date with 19th century additions, including a west tower rebuilt in 1864-5. It is built of flint with limestone dressings, with lead roofs except the chancel which is pantiled. The plan comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a north vestry and a south-west chapel.

The west tower is the most prominent external feature. It has staged angle buttresses faced with ashlar, with base courses displaying a chequer pattern of stone and flushwork panels. The belfry stage has single light windows with cusped ogee traceried heads and a cill band decorated with quatrefoils below the bell openings. The three-light openings above display Perpendicular tracery. A pierced and embattled stone parapet crowns the tower, with corner piers supporting crocketted pinnacles. An octagonal timber lantern, a 19th century addition, sits above with an ogee dome and lead finial. Curved braces connect to the corner posts, and iron traceried panels infill between them. The west doorway is notable, featuring a frieze of three traceried panels with shields, flanked by panels of ogee-headed blind arcading. The three-light west window shows Perpendicular tracery, and a clock face is set within a square panel above it. A label mould crowns this composition.

The south-west chapel, also 19th century, displays the same chequer work plinth as the tower and is finished with castellated parapets to east and west, plus a gable parapet with cross finial. Its east-facing gable contains a three-light Perpendicular window.

The south aisle has three three-light Perpendicular windows with bays divided by staged flint and limestone buttresses and a roll-moulded parapet coping. Above rises a 15th century clearstorey comprising eight bays of closely-set three-light windows with continuous hood mould. An east gable parapets the nave, with remains of a sanctus bell turret visible. The south aisle's east window is a three-light example of Decorated style, now partly blocked. The south wall of the chancel features two three-light Perpendicular windows separated by a staged buttress with knapped flint panels. Between them stands a priest's door with plain chamfered jambs and a hollow-rolled arched head with drip mould on head stops. Short diagonal buttresses flank the east wall of the chancel, which retains a restored east window with a roll-moulded head on attached shafts. A parapeted gable with cross finial completes this elevation.

The north aisle contains a 14th century three-light Decorated window in its eastern portion. The two eastern bays of the north aisle wall (St Catherine Chapel) were rebuilt in the early 19th century in brick and flint. The main north aisle consists of four bays with three-light Perpendicular windows featuring brattished transoms, divided by staged stone buttresses. Two-light 14th century windows light the western end of both aisles. A 19th century north vestry with one-light Decorated windows is attached, supported by short diagonal buttresses to its gable.

The interior is distinguished by exceptional timber roofwork. Both north and south aisles comprise four bays separated by quatrefoil piers with capitals, connected by arches with two hollow chamfers. The two lower bays of the aisles replicate the detailing of the north-east chapel.

The nave roof, dating to the 15th century, is of the highest quality and retains much of its original colouring. It alternates hammer-beam and arch-braced collar trusses throughout. The hammer beams take the form of angels. Principals rest on long canopied wall posts bearing figures of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles. The purlins are brattished and roll-moulded. The cornice displays three tiers of brattishing and two tiers of angels with spread wings. Below the clearstorey cill runs a frieze with bosses and shields in foliage. A blocked window above the chancel arch once contained a central figure pedestal and canopied niches with two tiers of figures in the jambs. The chancel ceiling is plastered over with large coving.

The furnishings are notable. A fine octagonal pulpit with backboard and tester is dated 1636. An octagonal font features traceried panels with shields and a wooden ogee cover with crocketted ribs and finial. An angel-piscina with petalled bowl occupies the south-east corner of the south aisle. The north-east chapel retains an incised consecration cross and a 14th century piscina with petalled bowl in its south-east corner.

The east window contains stained glass by de la Roche of Paris, dated 1844. A 19th century reredos, added later, displays a painting of the Raising of Lazarus.

The Mason Chapel contains two nearly identical wall monuments on its east and west walls. The eastern monument commemorates William Mason (died 1865) and his three sons; the western monument honours William Mason (died 1835) and his wife Elizabeth (died 1849). The design is attributed to Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. The nave and chancel also contain notable memorial brasses of 14th, 15th and 16th century date. Above the entrance to Mason Chapel, the wall plate is carved with the names of the Parish Clerk and Church Wardens.

The aisle roofs display roll-moulded principals with arch-braces to short wall posts.