Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This Anglican church was built between 1887 and 1890 to the design of architect J.D. Sedding on a site presented by the Earl of Kimberley. The foundation stone was laid on 2 November 1887 by the Prince of Wales, and the church was consecrated in 1890 by the Bishop of Barbados, acting for the Bishop of Truro. The north transept was extended in 1926.

The building is constructed of grey Plymouth limestone, brought to course with Ham Hill and Doulting dressings. The windows feature tracery, with those to the aisles and transepts having hood-moulds, impost strings and sill strings. A plinth string runs around the building with weatherings to the buttresses and gable copings. The roofs are of steep asbestos slate with a stone stack at the south-east corner of the south transept. An octagonal bellcote with a steep roof sits on the east side of the north transept, and a small turret rises from the north-east corner.

The plan consists of a nave with narrow aisles, equal transepts flanking the chancel, porch and vestries at the inner east angles (the north-east vestry positioned over a crypt), a north entrance via a north porch in the angle with the transept, and a projecting west entrance.

The exterior displays a free Gothic style with large buttresses with long offsets dividing the bays. The east end has five stepped lancets under a round arch. Lean-to sections with matching eaves lines connect to hip-roofed porch and vestry structures on either side of the chancel. The west end contains three lancets between deep buttresses, partly enclosed by a lean-to porch and narthex with a central doorway, and a blind rose window in the gable above. The aisles have four bays with 3-light traceried windows, and the transepts each have a 2-light traceried window. Most openings feature pointed arches, though the east end includes two 2-light windows and a single light with round heads, and there are round-headed slits under oculi to the bellcote.

The interior contains four-to-one bays with round-arched freestone and brought-to-course stonework arcades rising on chamfered and moulded piers. The nave and chancel have a boarded barrel ceiling with thin ribs on a bracketed wallplate, while the transepts have similar ceilings on moulded wallplates. Plaster-panelled ceilings with diaphragm arches and corbels cover the inner sides of the aisles, and the outer walls are plastered.

Notable fittings include an alabaster and marble pulpit of 1895, presented by Major Bowyer in memory of his sister. A large, elaborate freestone and alabaster reredos in Perpendicular style dates from 1910 and depicts the Ascension flanked by panels containing the Apostles, Cornish Celtic Saints and historical figures, all set within ogee-arched panels with trailing vine cornices and cresting above. There is a simple square marble font with a wooden cover supported on a fat round central shaft and four slender corner shafts. An American organ, originally built in 1894 by Hele of Plymouth, was later enlarged. The oak choir stalls are of late 19th or early 20th century Gothic style with ogee arches and linenfold detail, and original brass and mahogany communion rails remain. The Lady Chapel in the north transept features an altar with a carved wooden canopy above and a fine carving of the Virgin and Child, both made in 1926 by Miss Pinwell. The west window contains stained glass by Pownell of Falmouth.