Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

Parish church of around 1170, with a 14th-century tower. The building was substantially rebuilt in 1852 in Neo-Norman style by C S Fripp and restored in 1896 by C E Ponting. A vestry was added in 1924–5 by P Hartland Thomas. The structure is built of coursed rubble and ashlar with a stone slate roof.

The church comprises a west tower, nave and chancel, south porch, north transept, north organ chamber and north vestry. The tower is a three-stage Decorated composition with diagonal buttresses. It features a small west door with pointed arch and moulded surround, hood mould with stops and relieving arch over. Above is a three-light window with Y tracery, and two smaller two-light windows at the upper stages with bell louvres and trefoiled cusped tracery within plain architraves. The tower is topped with an embattled parapet and has a stair turret with slit windows on its south side.

The nave has three windows to the south and three to the north, with corbels, corbel table and stone guttering. Weathered corner buttresses and a gable at the east end with coped verges and cross finial complete the exterior. The south doorway displays elaborate late Norman mouldings with reptile-head stops to the hood mould and three orders to the door architrave featuring chevron mouldings, double key pattern and an interlaced double chevron undercut in high relief. The jamb shafts bear foliate capitals.

The chancel has corner buttresses, corbels and corbel table, with coped verges to its gable and cross finial. It features a triple window at the east end and a lancet above. The organ chamber has a pitched roof with coped verges and kneelers, and a single round-headed window at the east end. The transept has a gable with coped verges, window and slit above. The vestry has four-centred arched windows in ashlar surrounds, a pointed arched door, and plain cornice with parapet and coping. A small flat-roofed 20th-century extension on the north side has a four-centred arched door with ashlar lintel and parapet.

Interior: The tower contains a west door with triangular head and a three-light Decorated window above with cusped bar tracery bearing 1914–18 war memorial stained glass with a central figure of St George. A high pointed arch opens to the nave with chamfered jambs; a stair tower to the south has a small entrance door in an ashlar surround.

The nave has three south windows with 19th-century stained glass depicting St Paul, Titus and Timothy, and three plain north windows. All are round-headed with deep splayed reveals and relieving arch over. The roof spans seven bays with collars and arch-braces. A restored pointed arch opens to the north transept, with jamb shafts bearing scalloped capitals and a round-headed north window at upper level in deep splayed reveals with relieving arch over.

The chancel arch is Transitional, very pointed, with jamb shafts bearing scalloped capitals. A four-centred arched opening to the left is set in a splayed ashlar reveal with a large stop to the hood mould on the right, possibly indicating the position of a former rood-stair. A small slit window at the apex of the gable is deeply splayed. The chancel comprises four bays and includes a four-centred arched opening to the organ chamber. A triple round-headed window at the east end, with the central light taller than the others, contains 19th-century stained glass of the Crucifixion, Mary and a disciple. Two south windows have 19th-century stained glass depicting St Monica and Margaret. Black and white marble flooring is present at the altar end.

The church contains two marble monuments, to Henry Davis (died 1851) and Emily Davis (died 1866), both by T Gaffin of Regent Street, London. A wooden shield bearing the royal arms of George III hangs over the stair turret door. An octagonal Perpendicular font with wooden cover is present. The stalls, benches, pews and pulpit date from 1924–5 and are by P Hartland Thomas.