Church Of All Saints

ATWORTH GREAT CHALFIELD ST 86 SE (east side) 4/61 Church of All Saints 13.11.62 GV I

Anglican parish church. C14, C15, late C18, restored 1914 by C.H. Biddulph-Pinchard. Rubble stone, stone slate roof with coped verges. Plan: Nave, chancel, south chapel and vestry, west bellcote over entrance. Moulded pointed west doorway within gabled stone canopy on brackets, ledged door, 3-light C19 Perpendicular- style window over, square C15 bellcote on corbel table with 2-light pointed openings, string course to battlemented parapet and short crocketed octagonal spire with moulded finial. North side of nave has chamfered lancet, pair of large buttresses on north east corner of nave, one added 1719. Ashlar chancel has C19 two-light square- headed window with cusped lights, east end has 3-light C19 Perpendicular-style window, buttress with offsets to left. Vestry has C19 Perpendicular-style east window, pointed door on south side, and ashlar stack. Gabled south chapel, c.1480 by Thomas Tropnell with 3-light Perpendicular restored south window. No windows on south side of nave. Interior: Nave has C15 arch-braced collar rafter roof with three chamfered tie-beams; flagstone floors; late C19 pews replacing box pews; the latter reused as dado panelling. Late C17 polygonal pulpit with reader's desk given by John Hall, tester of 1765; C13 cylindrical stone font. Tropnell Chapel with moulded pointed arch to nave filled by carved stone screen with vine carving on coving and five heraldic shields of Tropnell arms, crested top. C15 pointed barrel-vaulted ceiling with heraldic arms on the bosses; remains of paintings of life of St Katherine on west wall; cusped piscina on south wall. C19 moulded pointed chancel arch with good 1914 carved wooden screen; arch-braced collar-rafter roof; ogee piscina on north wall; late C17 communion rails with turned balusters; choir stalls include one C17 with poppy heads, rest are copies. Vestry and organ chamber, formerly Neale family chapel added 1775, moulded round arch on compound pilasters with unfinished capitals through to Tropnell chapel; screen between vestry and chancel brought from Godstone, Surrey in 1912; painted organ case to designs by Biddulph-Pinchard and executed by Miss Maurice. On south wall is stone tablet with raised date 1775 and initials RN, presumably those of Robert Neale and commemorating building of his chapel. Some reset C15 stained glass in the west window. Thomas Tropnell, the builder of the chapel, also built Great Chalfield Manor (q.v.) c1470. The church stands within the moat surrounding the house and the whole is reached by a bridge; an important late Medieval group. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire, 1975; Great Chalfield Manor Guide, 1986).

Listing NGR: ST8605363207