Church of All Souls

The Church of All Souls is a 1851 church built in the Early English style by architect Edwin Nash (1813-1884). It is constructed of coursed Kentish ragstone rubble with Caen stone dressings and a tiled roof with alternate bands of plain and pointed tiles. The church comprises a four-bay nave, a lower two-bay chancel, a north porch, and a north vestry. Windows are primarily lancets, separated by stepped buttresses.

The gabled west front features a gabled bellcote with a clock face dated 1852 by Shole of Deptford, two lancet windows, and an arched doorcase with colonnettes and double plank doors with decorative ironmongery. The south side of the nave has paired lancets with trefoil heads. The north side features lancets, a triple arched window, and a gabled porch with kneelers, an arched doorcase with a dripmould, and trefoil openings in the side walls. The chancel has lancet windows, including three lancet windows to the east, the central one being taller, and the north wall includes a lean-to vestry with pointed windows and a flat-arched doorcase.

The nave’s interior features a pine arched braced collar roof, boarded above the common rafters and supported on stone corbels. A carved wooden western gallery is present. The floors of the nave and porch are diamond-shaped alternate red and black quarries. Original pine pews with umbrella stands remain, alongside an octagonal Caen stone font and a Caen stone pulpit. Stained glass windows in the nave were likely designed by Holland of Warwick or Henry Hughes and installed before 1870. An organ built in 1856 by Henry Willis features painted decorated front pipes. Choir stalls were constructed from pews removed from underneath the gallery in 1889. An oak altar rail, with floral and snake decoration to the iron panels, and a reredos of Caen stone and plaster, dated 1855, are also incorporated. The east stained glass window, by William Holland and dated 1853, depicts scenes from the Life of Christ with twisting leaf patterns along the sides. The chancel has a large round-headed moulded arch on colonnettes, leading to a barrel-vaulted roof. Both the chancel and sanctuary floors have clay glazed and encaustic tiles laid in the mid-1860s.

Before the church’s construction, the nearest Church of England churches were in St Mary Cray and Eynsford, but a Baptist chapel had provided competition since the early 18th century. Edwin Nash had strong local connections, and the church was built for £1500, mainly raised by local subscription.

This is a carefully designed Early English style mid-19th century stone village church, notable for its virtually complete interior fittings.