Church of All Saints

Church of All Saints

Parish church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, with additions around 1638, altered in 1869, and restored in 1876 by G.G. Scott Junior. The south vestry was added in 1903 by W.D. Caröe. The building is constructed of flint and stone, with the north chapel built of ashlared stone with bands of flint and stone flushwork above and below the string course.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, south aisle, south vestry, chancel, north chapel built over a vault, north aisle, and north porch, all with plain tile roofs.

West Tower: The tower has no plinth or buttresses and rises in three stages with battlements above a moulded, gargoyled string. Two-light belfry windows feature cinquefoil-headed lights with squared hoodmoulds. Similar single-light windows appear towards the base of the central stage and one above the door at the bottom stage. The west doorway is two-centred and arched with moulding and carved heads as label stops.

South Aisle: This early 14th-century aisle has a moulded stone plinth with a south-west angle buttress. The west window is three-light with mouchettes and hoodmould with carved heads as label stops. Three two-centred arched traceried three-light south windows with hoodmoulds alternate with buttresses.

South Vestry: The vestry has a moulded stone plinth and moulded string to the eaves. The parapet is flushwork with moulded coping stepped up at corners. Two small octagonal stone flues occupy the south-west corner. A two-light south window and low two-centred arched east doorway complete the exterior.

Chancel: Late 14th-century, with no plinth. The south window is two-light with hoodmould, whilst the east window is three-light with cinquefoil-headed lights, polygonal tracery, and hoodmould. The north window matches the south.

North Chapel: Built over a vault, this chapel has a moulded ashlared plinth and battlemented parapet above a moulded string. The east window is three-light with segmental heads and stepped hollow-chamfered pointed arched lights.

North Aisle: Built in the later 14th century with no plinth and two buttresses. Two three-light traceried windows to the east and one to the west of the north porch are present, with the easternmost incorporating a broad trefoil-headed panel. All windows have hoodmoulds.

North Porch: The porch has a flint plinth with moulded stone coping, buttresses flanking the entrance, and trefoil-headed side lights. The outer doorway is two-centred and arched with moulded stone and a hoodmould formerly with carved label stops. The inner doorway is two-centred and arched with different moulding.

Interior Structure: The nave has three-bay arcades to north and south of doubly hollow-chamfered pointed arches. The octagonal columns have moulded capitals and bases; those to the north are different and probably of later 14th-century date. There is no chancel arch or tower arch. The soffits of the westernmost chancel rafters are plastered to form a canted arch. A low pointed-arched doorway to the tower has a broad hollow chamfer and moulded hoodmould. Access to the north chapel is by four steps from the east end of the north aisle only, through a round-headed archway cut through a former window. The north-west chancel window is blocked by the chapel, and the east window of the south aisle is blocked by the vestry but retains tracery matching the westernmost window of the north aisle. The north-east corner of the north aisle is raised two steps over the vault but is lower than the floor of the north chapel.

Roof: The nave roof has three moulded octagonal crown posts on doubly-hollow-chamfered tie-beams with sous-laces and ashlar pieces. A hollow-chamfered cornice runs throughout. A truss has been removed from the east end of the nave. The chancel roof comprises common rafters with collars, sous-laces and long ashlar-pieces, hollow-chamfered cornice and two hollow-chamfered tie-beams. The north chapel has a flat plastered ceiling. Lean-to roofs to the aisles feature hollow-chamfered aligned butt purlins, tie-beams and cornices.

Fittings and Decoration: An octagonal stone font with moulded octagonal stem on octagonal plinth is attached to the south side of the south-west nave column. An early 16th-century crocketed ogee wooden font cover with hoist is preserved. A hexagonal 17th-century pulpit and 17th-century wrought iron gates to the north chapel are present. A box pew in the north-east corner of the north aisle was granted to Baldwin Duppa in 1737. Pews date from the work of G.G. Scott Junior. Two hatchments hang in the north-east corner of the north aisle.

The north chapel contains a 17th-century Culpeper arms in the east window. Deeply coloured stained glass appears in the north-west window of the north aisle and east window of the chancel, dated to 1873 (date of death). The north chapel has a moulded stone dado rail and moulded inscribed stone cornice at impost level with numerous small raised shields on the wall between, all but five left blank.

Monuments: Notable monuments include a tablet to Samuel Plummer (d.1705) on the south wall of the south aisle in black and white marble with moulded plinth, flanking pilasters, cornice, and scrolled pediment with shield. A tablet to Philippa Culpeper (d.1630) in black and white alabaster features convex form with cupids' heads to the base and segmental open-topped pediment with three shields. A tablet to John Lord Colepeper (d.1719) and Cheny Colepeper (d.1725), signed by Rysbrack, displays marble with moulded consoled plinth with heraldic beasts supporting a blank shield, flanking Ionic columns, moulded frieze, and moulded triangular pediment surmounted by gadrooned urns.

On the south wall of the chancel is a monument to Martin Barnham (d.1610) and members of the Barnham family in alabaster, with two recessed coffered arches sheltering kneeling couples flanked by composite columns, moulded cornice with short terminal obelisks and shields, and children carved in relief below with an inscribed panel. A standing stone chest tomb to Francis Culpeper (d.1591) and Johanna (d.1597) features a moulded plinth, corniced lid and blank shields, surmounted by two free-standing Corinthian columns flanking the inscription and bearing moulded frieze and cornice with terminal obelisks. The columns, frieze and borders are covered with finely-carved damask pattern in low relief.

The north wall of the chancel bears a monument to John, Lord Culpeper (d.1660), erected in 1695, with inscribed panel flanked by foliated scrolls, moulded plinth and cornice, open-topped segmental pediment with shield, and a further panel below the plinth bearing a copy of Patent of Honour. A monument to Dame Grace Gethin (d.1697) in black and white marble depicts a kneeling woman flanked by standing angels and cupid's head, framed by Ionic columns on a consoled plinth with shields, with an inscribed convex panel between consoles and above the figures, all surmounted by reclining mourners, shield, urn and scrolled pediment. This monument is said to be the second of two similar monuments to her, the other being in Westminster Abbey.

A tablet to Baldwin Duppa (d.1737) on the north wall of the north aisle, erected in 1738 and signed by Rysbrack, is in marble on a moulded consoled plinth with inscription flanked by inverted scrolls and youthful heads, egg and dart cornice surmounted by a gadrooned urn on a plinth. A similar tablet to Baldwin Duppa (d.1764) on the east wall of the north aisle is also signed by Rysbrack. A free-standing chest tomb in the centre of the north chapel to Elizabeth Culpeper (d.1638), signed by Edward Marshall, is in black and white marble with moulded plinth, pilasters and shields, and a cartouche to each end. A reclining white marble effigy of a woman with heraldic beast beneath her feet crowns the tomb.

The chancel was probably rebuilt following the earthquake of 1382.