Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints, Portsmouth

Church. Built 1827–28, designed by Jacob Owen. The chancel was rebuilt in 1877, probably by John Oldrid Scott. The building was damaged during the Second World War and subsequently restored in 1950. In 1975, part of the gallery at the west end was converted into offices and social space.

The church is constructed in ashlar stone with Welsh slate roofs featuring clay moulded and pierced ridge pieces. It is designed in the Neo-Perpendicular style. The plan comprises a 7-bay aisled nave, a 3-bay chancel, a west porch tower with spirelet, and a north-west vestry.

On the north face, the chancel displays three 3-light Neo-Perpendicular stone traceried windows, each light with pointed cusped heads set under a pointed arch and dripstone with dropped head bosses. Flanking stepped buttresses ascend to pinnacles with octagonal tops featuring 4 inset panels and a trefoil moulded band across the centre. The nave has tall 4-light Neo-Perpendicular windows set under pointed arches with stone panels through the centre positioned between the tracery and banded sills. The far right bay contains a recessed vertically panelled door under a pointed arch, flanked by stepped buttresses. A projecting stone plinth runs along the base.

The south face is similar to the north, but includes a vestry to the far right with a recessed panelled door at its centre set under a stone pointed arch with dripstone. Flanking the door are 2-light stone windows with pointed cusped heads set under moulded stone flat arches with dripstone. At high level is a 2-light stone traceried window with ogee cusped heads set under a pointed arch with dripstone. A stepped buttress occupies the right corner of the vestry, with an ornate stone stack nearby.

The east face of the chancel features a large Neo-Perpendicular 5-light stone window with cusped heads to each light within ogee arches, all set under a pointed stone arch.

The west face has diagonal stepped buttresses at each corner. To the north and south aisles are 4-light Neo-Perpendicular stone windows with their lower halves blinded with recessed stone panels between the tracery. The projecting nave is flanked by stepped angle buttresses terminating above roof level with crocketed pinnacles. At the centre is a recessed 2-leaf boarded door with deep moulded jambs and a pointed arch. Above this is a tall Neo-Perpendicular 5-light stone window with its bottom half blinded with recessed stone panels between tracery and a pointed arch. A clock face sits above an ogee dripstone. The facing gable has a pierced stone parapet with copings.

The tower base has diagonal stepped buttresses and a recessed 2-light Y-traceried louvred opening with a pointed arch and dripstone. An embattled parapet rises above, followed by a recessed crocketed spirelet and corner sprocketed pinnacles.

The interior of the aisled nave has north and south arcades with clustered quatrefoil iron piers featuring moulded capitals, band moulds, and bases. The pointed arches have ogee beads over them. Plaster groined vaulting springs from the capitals to form the nave ceiling, while the aisles have lower-level cross vaulting. The aisle galleries have segmental supporting arches between columns with vertically panelled balcony fronts, and vaulted ceilings below the balconies.

The west bay, including the vestibule, was subdivided with late 20th-century partitioning to create offices, a kitchen, toilets, and related spaces. The east chancel arch has clustered iron columns with a plastered segmental pointed arch. The three chancel bays feature stone lierne vaulting, with attached columns flanking each window from which the vaulting springs. An organ loft is positioned on the north side. The east windows contain stained glass dating from 1950, designed by Terence Randall.