Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints, Alton

An Anglican parish church built in 1873–4, designed by Frederick Charles Dyer of London in the Early English style. A vestry was added to the north side in 1878, and the south west tower with spire followed in 1881.

The building is constructed of polygonal Selborne malmstone with Bathstone ashlar dressings. The roofs are steeply pitched clay plain tiles with terracotta ridge tiles.

The plan comprises a four-bay nave with a south west tower, north and south transepts, a north vestry, and an apsidal-ended chancel.

The south west tower rises in three stages and carries a broach spire. It has angle buttresses with weathered set-offs to the lower two stages. The two lowest stages are lit by pointed lancets under hood moulds, while the bell chamber in the upper stage has two-light reticulated bar tracery windows, also under hood moulds. A pointed arched doorway on the south east side at the second stage, made by Row and Son of Alton, opens beneath a hood mould. The clock face bears the inscription "The time is short", a memorial to Dr L Leslie, treasurer of the building committee. The tower serves as a local landmark.

Angle buttresses with weathered set-offs articulate the nave, transepts, and chancel. The nave and chancel windows are two-light reticulated bar tracery windows under hood moulds, while those to the north eastern end of the chancel (behind the altar) and to the transepts are three-light versions.

The interior has plastered walls and a boarded arch-braced roof supported on stone corbels. The nave retains its original wooden pews with trefoil designs in the bench ends. An octagonal Caen stone font from 1874, positioned at the south west end of the nave, was carved by J Boggust, junior and William Pickett (workers for the builders J H and E Dyer) as their contribution to the church. A hexagonal wooden pulpit on a stone base, dating from 1892 and a memorial to William Dyer (secretary to the building committee), stands in the nave.

The south west gable wall of the nave features a carved stone panel depicting Christ blessing children, executed by the church sculptor Harry Hems of Exeter. Oak panelling with armorial shields along the top, applied to the south west gable end, was given by the Wright family of Alton in 1937.

The chancel is entered through a tall pointed moulded arch supported on columns with moulded capitals and bases. A wrought iron chancel screen on a stone base, dating from 1894 and made by Hart, Son and Peard, was given by Mr and Mrs George Frost in memory of their daughter. The chancel has a ribbed roof, oak dado panelling, and four stained glass windows from 1874 commemorating Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, in whose episcopate the church was commenced. An oak reredos, carved in 1892 by employees of J H and E Dyer as a memorial to William Dyer, embellishes the chancel. Elaborately carved choir stalls furnish the space. The north side of the chancel holds an organ from 1885 by Hill and Son of London, a gift from Miss Lydia Dyer. An old Italian chancel lamp, given by Mr E J Pilcher in commemoration of his son Ernest James, killed in Syria on 2nd August 1917, hangs in the chancel. An ancient Russian icon of Christ is mounted on the north wall.

The nave and transepts feature three stained glass windows on the south east side: two from 1874 and one from 1890 near the entrance.

The church was built at a cost of £3,163 13s, raised by public subscription. William Dyer donated the site (valued at £150) and stone from his Selborne quarry. Building works commenced on Easter Monday 1873. The foundation stone was laid on 18th July 1873 by Sir Roundell Palmer, First Earl of Selborne, whilst serving as Lord Chancellor. The works were completed and the church dedicated on 23rd December 1874 by Bishop Harold Browne.

This is a well-executed and unaltered Early English style High Victorian parish church of good quality stonework, featuring an impressive tower capped with a broach spire and complete original interior fittings.