Church of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This is a parish church in Swallowfield, originally built in the 12th century with alterations made in the 13th and 15th centuries. A north transept was added by the Russell family in 1836 to cover their vault, and the church underwent general restoration in 1871. The building is constructed in flint with Bath stone dressings, has a tiled gabled roof, and a timber-framed bellcote with brick infill.

The church comprises a continuous nave and chancel, north transept, south porch, and bellcote. The bellcote is positioned at the west end of the nave. Built in the 19th century from old timber supported from the nave floor with large scissor bracing, it is surmounted by an octagonal shingle spire.

The north side of the nave features two 19th-century traceried windows and, between them, a 12th-century doorway with three orders of jambs. The inner and middle orders are slightly chamfered, with detached shafts that have moulded braces and scalloped capitals within the angles. The two orders of the round arch are moulded, with the outer order enriched with zigzag ornament.

The west front has three trefoiled lights with 19th-century heads. On the south side are three windows: the easternmost is late 14th century with three ogee trefoiled lights with semi-quatrefoils above in a square head and moulded label; the second is 15th century with three cinquefoiled lights under a square head and a 19th-century label; the third is 19th century. High up to the west of the third window is the head of a small 13th-century lancet window. Between the second and third windows is a late 13th-century doorway of a single order with three-quarter edge rolls, moulded bases, and mutilated bell capitals, with a round arch probably dating to the 15th century.

The chancel's east front has three 19th-century windows with some old stonework, and a bulls eye above. The north front features a window with two cinquefoil lights under a traceried pointed head, with the foils of the tracery converted into soffit cusps. The south front has two 19th-century windows with a two-stage buttress to the left of the westernmost.

The north transept has a window of three lights under a traceried head in 15th-century style.

Interior

The nave roof consists of five bays of arched braced collar trusses with butt purlins, windbraces, and heavy tie beams with curved braces. The chancel roof is similar but without tie beams. The transept has a plastered four-centred ceiling with moulded wooden ribs.

A piscina to the east of the northernmost window on the north wall of the nave has a pointed head and round basin. A 19th-century piscina has been formed from the east jambs of the south window in the chancel.

Fittings include an old chest believed to be late 17th century, with a round lid and plain strap ironwork, near the north door of the nave. At the west end is a 19th-century arched recess containing a stone coffin with a raised cross on its lid, said to contain the bones of John le Despenser who died in 1275. The octagonal font is 19th century.

Monuments and Memorials

Two 15th-century brasses lie in the chancel floor. The smaller one, to the north of the altar, bears an inscription to Margery, wife of Thomas Letterford, with a figure of a lady in 15th-century costume above. The larger brass sits on a Purbeck marble slab with four shields at its corners, featuring figures of a man in 16th-century armour and a woman in a long gown, head-dress, and veil. The inscription is to Christopher Lytkoft Esquire, died 1554.

In the Russell transept are two large 17th-century mural monuments of classical design: one to John Backhouse of Swallowfield, died 1649, and another to various members of the same family. Later monuments to the Russell family are also present. The west end of the nave contains 18th-century and later monuments. On the south wall of the nave outside is a small stone inscribed to Edward Swayhe, died February 1650, with a stone sundial beside it.

Stained Glass

The church contains a three-light window in the nave by Hardman and a window in the north transept by Holiday, dated 1884.

Setting

The church stands in the south part of Swallowfield Park on a sloping site that falls towards the River Blackwater on the west. It is surrounded by trees.