Parish Church Of All Hallows

All Hallows is a medieval parish church substantially extended and enriched in the late 19th century by one of Victorian England's most distinguished architects, William Butterfield. The building stands as a remarkable fusion of medieval fabric and high Victorian Gothic craftsmanship.

Historical Development

A priest held land in Tottenham at the time of Domesday Book in 1086, and presumably served a church there. The double-square plan of the medieval nave suggests a 12th-century rebuilding, though the earliest surviving fabric dates from the 14th century.

The west tower and the western six bays of the nave arcades are 14th century and originally comprised the entire church, with a chancel structurally undivided from the nave. The south aisle was rebuilt in the 15th century, probably widened at that time. The early 16th-century south porch was added around 1500. The top of the tower was built or rebuilt in brick in 1741. The north aisle was rebuilt in brick in 1816, with a north gallery inserted in 1821.

In 1875–77, William Butterfield undertook an extensive restoration and extension. The east walls were demolished and a new chancel with transepts built, converting the former nave and chancel into the present nave. An eastern bay was added to the nave, along with a north vestry. Butterfield (1829–99) was among the greatest 19th-century church architects, particularly noted for inventive structural polychromy and richly tiled surfaces, both of which he employed to remarkable effect at All Hallows. He was a friend of the then vicar, Alexander Wilson, who paid for much of the restoration. Both men are buried in adjacent tombs in the cemetery. Some interior recolouring in the nave occurred in 1964–67.

An unusual circular vestry and mausoleum for the Hare family, built east of the church by Lord Coleraine in 1696, was demolished during the 19th-century restoration.

Construction and Materials

The church displays a rich variety of materials accumulated over its long building history: flint and ragstone rubble with stone dressings, and brick of several periods. The roofs are tiled throughout.

Plan

The church comprises a chancel with northeast vestry and north and south transepts, a nave with seven-bay north and south aisles, a south porch, and a west tower.

Exterior

The exterior is notable for its striking mix of styles, periods and materials. The tower and the nave with its aisles, each under its own gabled roof, largely preserve the appearance of the entire medieval church, though the building was greatly extended eastward in the 19th century.

The chancel, transepts and vestry, built in 1875 by Butterfield in a 13th-century style, display his characteristic banded stone and brick diapering. The windows, which have geometric tracery, are executed in stone.

The north aisle is stock brick of 1861 with tall, square-headed windows in the Perpendicular style. The 15th-century south aisle is ragstone rubble construction and features a round rood stair turret marking the former junction of nave and chancel. The south aisle windows resemble those in the north aisle, except for the easternmost window which has reticulated tracery. The 19th-century nave clerestory is concealed behind the aisle roofs.

The very fine 16th-century brick porch is two-storeyed with diaper brickwork, stone dressings and an embattled parapet, much renewed. The string course below the parapet bears angels and Tudor roses. The 19th-century outer doorway has a two-centred head within a square frame; the inner south door has a segmental head and retains its original early 16th-century carved spandrels. The porch roof preserves hefty early 16th-century rafters.

The slender west tower is of several periods and displays a mix of materials. Built in four stages with an embattled parapet, the lower part is 14th century and has a blocked 15th- or early 16th-century west door and west window. Small oculi of uncertain date appear in the second stage, and tall, pointed windows (possibly former bell openings) blocked in brick are visible in the third stage. On the east face, the central blocked opening (now largely hidden by the 19th-century roof) is flanked by blind, two-light windows with cusping in simple flint flushwork, dating from the late 14th or early 15th century. The upper part of the tower is 18th-century brick, featuring pairs of round-headed bell openings flanked by similar, smaller openings, and a brick embattled parapet.

Interior

The medieval fabric is largely plastered and painted, while Butterfield's work displays his characteristic structural polychromy and extensive use of tiles, especially in the chancel, which is very richly decorated.

The seven-bay north and south nave arcades have chamfered arches on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The three westernmost and the fifth pairs of piers are 14th century; the fourth and sixth pairs are 19th-century copies. The upper and lower rood stair doors in the fourth bay of the south aisle wall mark the position of the former screen and division between nave and chancel. The clerestory was a Butterfield addition, executed in red brick with pale stone in a distinctly Victorian Gothic style. The tower arch follows a similar 14th-century design to the nave arcades. The nave west wall is covered in 19th-century geometric tiles below the level of the clerestory.

The east end is wholly by Butterfield in a 13th-century style. The chancel arch in banded stone has half-round responds, moulded capitals, and multiple rolls on the arch. The arches to the transepts from the aisle and chancel resemble the nave arcades but are executed in banded stone; that from the south aisle is treated as bar tracery and has open, foiled circles in the spandrels, a motif extensively used in the 19th-century work. Two open, foiled circles appear in the spandrels of the chancel arch with a stone cross between them.

The chancel exemplifies Butterfield's creative use of structural polychromy. The upper part of the walls is exposed brick with stencilled decoration, with banded stone and open quatrefoils (one a window) by the transepts. The lower part of the sanctuary walls is enriched with blind arcading in a 13th-century style with detached marble shafts and fine geometric tiles behind the arcading. The sedilia, piscina and reredos form an integral part of this composition.

Fittings

Only a few fittings, notably monuments, survived the 19th-century restoration. The north aisle west window contains outstanding early 16th-century French glass, presented in 1807 and formerly in the east window. This depicts the prophets David, Isaiah and Jeremiah beneath three large seated evangelists.

The south aisle roof has 15th-century king posts on plain tie beams. The rafters are ceiled in.

Otherwise, the church retains most of the suite of fittings installed under Butterfield's direction, and all, with the exception of the benches, are notable in design and execution. The reredos, two-seat sedilia and piscina in the chancel form a unified composition. The reredos is three bays like a castle gatehouse, with a central, trefoiled arch under a gable with an embattled cornice and pinnacles. The backs of the central arch and the flanking square panels have fine geometric tiles, with further stone panelling with foiled circles at dado level. The piscina is formed from a bay of the blind arcading; the sedilia is larger and the string course rises above it in a stepped gable.

The tester and stone pulpit are excellent, with open marble and alabaster arcading in a 13th-century Italian Gothic style. The polygonal font has two rows of detached marble shafts.

The glass in the chancel, transepts and aisles is by Gibbs and was designed under Butterfield's direction, although only the east window, those in the south transept and the first south aisle window are by Gibbs himself. The rest comes from his workshop. There is a good, but very small, early 20th-century panel in the south aisle west window.

The nave and chancel roofs are also by Butterfield. The chancel has a wagon roof with delicate mouldings simulating ribs and stencilled decoration, richer over the sanctuary. The nave has a timber barrel vault with arch-braced principals, the whole painted in an unusual striped pattern that resembles tartan from the ground but is intended to create a trompe l'oeil effect of additional ribs. Good 19th-century floor tiles appear in the chancel and at the west end of the nave.

A rood group with life-sized figures in the north aisle is said to have been executed in the Exeter workshop of noted ecclesiastical sculptor Harry Hems (1842–1916). A length of cornice with carved angels, also in the north aisle, is probably 19th century.

Monuments

There are several good monuments, including several late 16th- and 17th-century brasses and wall tablets. The most notable is that for Mary Barkham, died 1644, and her husband, Sir Robert Barkham, signed by Edward Marshall. Of black and white marble, they have elegant demi-figures in an architectural frame with kneeling children below, and shows leading tendencies in mid-17th-century tomb design. The brass for Margaret Irby, died 1640, is also interesting as it has gracefully sketched kneeling figures on a single sheet of brass.