Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a parish church dating primarily to the 14th and 15th centuries, with some 17th-century rebuilding following the collapse of the roof in 1604. The base of the tower likely originates from the 12th century. The church is constructed of flint with brick and limestone dressings, and has a pantiled roof.

The church consists of a west tower, nave, chancel, and a north porch. The west tower is round, with a 14th-century octagonal upper stage featuring restored two-light bell openings with cusped Y-tracery and roll-moulded quoins. A small, semi-circular headed window is located on the west side. Windows in the north wall of the nave and the south wall of the chancel are predominantly two-light examples, dating from approximately 1300 and featuring cusped Y-tracery. The south wall of the nave contains a late Decorated two-light window, a large blocked opening with a later square drip mould, a two-light window with 'Y' tracery (its mullion rebuilt in ovolo-moulded brick), and another Decorated window with a restored elliptical head. Staged buttresses are composed of flint and brick with stone dressings. The east wall has angle buttresses and a four-light reticulated window set beneath an ogee headed arch, with a small cusped niche situated below the window. A projecting pier, semi-circular on plan, with a pantile capping – possibly an old flue – is found on the north wall of the chancel. A priests’ door with a segmental head is adjacent to a three-light Perpendicular window. The westernmost window in the north wall of the nave is a two-light late Decorated/early Perpendicular style. Large brick buttresses with stone copings also feature. The north porch is of brick and flint and has been substantially rebuilt.

The nave roof, likely dating to the 17th century, was rebuilt in 1907 and includes quadrant moulded tie beams with shallow arch braces to wall posts. A wooden cornice with poker-work decoration is present. The chancel roof is boarded with a wooden coving. A continuous hood mould runs over the south chancel windows and is supported at the west end by a shaft with a Romanesque capital. A dropped sill, sedilia, and an angle piscina are located adjacent to the easternmost window, all dating to the 14th century. Carved corbels for a roof loft remain in the nave walls. A 14th-century painting depicting St. Christopher is on the south nave wall, alongside remnants of text in the reveal of the easternmost window. Two later panels of text are on the north wall. A decayed 17th-century wooden plaque is found in the base of a window in the south nave wall. A good polygonal pulpit with ball feet and raised, fielded panelled sides, probably from the early 18th century, is also present. The chancel contains 17th and 18th-century wall monuments, including two identical tablets by John Ivory of Norwich, dated 1759 and 1790, positioned on either side of the altar. A 14th-century octagonal font has quatrefoil panels to its bowl and cored stem. The organ case is a fine example, designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and re-set from West Tofts, St. Mary.