Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a medieval parish church. A south aisle was added in the early 16th century as a private chapel for the Garneys family. The church was restored in 1871-2 by E. Hakewill. It comprises a nave, south nave aisle, chancel, a west tower, and both north and south porches. The church is mostly constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings, except for the red brick aisle, which features diaperwork in dark brick headers. The nave and chancel have plaintiled roofs, while the aisle roof is leaded.

The late 14th or early 15th century tower is square with two stages and a three-stage diagonal buttress on the west side. It has a rebuilt crenellated parapet decorated with stone circles linked by a horizontal band. The west doorway is unmoulded, and above it is a two-light window; at ringing chamber level, a trefoil-headed lancet window is present. There are two-light belfry openings. The nave retains a late 12th-century core, with original north and south doorways. The south doorway has a single order of colonnettes with crocketed capitals (one renewed) and a semi-circular keel-moulded arch; a repaired medieval door is set within it. The north doorway has a plain semi-circular arch. The nave windows, two on the north side and one on the south, were renewed in 1871 and have tall trefoil heads with quatrefoils or cinquefoils above, with stilted arches. The 15th-century south porch has a facade of knapped flint, and its entrance arch is enriched with two orders of crowns and flower motifs; the jambs were renewed. The two-bay aisle has two-light hoodmoulded brick windows and a three-light east window. A four-centre arched brick doorway with its original door provides west access from within the porch. The north porch was constructed in 1871. The chancel has three broad lancet windows (two to the north, one to the south) and a square-headed 15th-century window partly blocked by the aisle. The Priest’s doorway has been altered. The east window of 1871 is in Early English style, consisting of three lancets with a circular window above, but lacking a containing arch.

Inside, the nave has a scissor-braced coupled-rafter roof dating from 1871, and incorporates re-used moulded tie beams supporting a 19th-century crown-post. A 15th-century cornice is also present. The chancel roof was renewed in 1871, featuring a boarded ceiling. A two-bay aisle arcade separates the nave and aisle, with the original aisle roof retained. The elaborate chancel arch, dating from 1871 and in the 13th-century style, is carried on a large marble shaft surrounded by three smaller ones, with foliage capitals and spreading leaves at the base. The east window has a cusped surround supported on colonnettes, all dating from 1871. A rood loft stair rises from the sill of the north-east nave window, and a 15th-century statue niche with a cusped ogee arch and carved shields in the spandrels sits adjacent to the stair. The font has a 13th-century octagonal bowl of Purbeck marble with two shallow-arched panels on each face; the shaft and base are from 1871, replacing a 15th-century shaft which is now located in the aisle. At the west end of the nave, a 16th-century bench features a balustraded bookrest dated 1595. The nave poppyhead benches are from 1871. A niche on the south wall of the aisle retains remains of original colouring.