Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints is a small and isolated parish church, formerly the estate church serving the local estate. The west tower dates from the 15th century, whilst the remainder of the building was completely restored and largely rebuilt in 1867, although some fabric at the east end survives from the 15th century. The original medieval work uses local mudstone rubble laid in rough courses for the tower with granite detailing. The 19th-century restoration employed snecked rubble with ashlar dressings of Hatherleigh stone. The roof is slate with crested ridge tiles. The church comprises a nave with narrower and lower chancel, a north aisle with a narrower and lower mortuary chapel at its east end (with vaults beneath), a north porch, and a west tower. The architectural style is Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic.

The Tower

The west tower rises in two stages and features a moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses, and an embattled parapet with moulded granite coping. Simple two-light windows with round-headed lights illuminate the belfry stage. An internal stair turret with tiny slit windows occupies the north and west sides. The west doorway, dating from the late 15th century, is fashioned from granite as a flat two-centred arch with richly moulded surround and cushion stops with side spirals. It contains a 19th-century plank door fitted with ornate wrought iron strap hinges. Above the doorway sits a granite three-light window, somewhat restored with Hatherleigh stone, displaying Perpendicular tracery and a moulded hood.

The Nave and South Elevation

The nave projects slightly southward from the tower. Built of snecked rubble with Hatherleigh stone dressings, it appears to be an entirely 19th-century rebuild. The two-window south front has a buttress between the windows and flanking diagonal buttresses. Both windows are similar three-light examples in Hatherleigh stone with Decorated-style cusped reticulated tracery.

The Chancel

The chancel is built of rubble and is probably of medieval origin, although it has 19th-century quoins and the roof level has been raised slightly. The east end features Hatherleigh stone shaped kneelers, coping, and a Cross of Iona at the apex. The windows are of Beer stone and probably 19th-century work: a square-headed two-light window on the south side with cinquefoil heads and open spandrels, and a tall three-light window at the east end with Perpendicular tracery and a moulded hood.

The North-East Chapel

The north-east chapel extends slightly further east than the chancel. It too is rubble-built with renewed quoins, a raised roof with shaped kneelers, coping, and a fleuree cross on the apex. The east end is blind. In the angles between nave and chancel and between chancel and chapel are 19th-century cast iron drain pipes with rainwater heads enriched with rose and thistle motifs.

The North Elevation

On the north side all windows are 19th-century with acutely pointed heads, Perpendicular tracery, and moulded hoods with carved label stops. A two-light window lights the chapel at the left end; below it the ground drops sharply to provide access to the vaults, where a small barred door sits within a broad granite doorcase. Two windows illuminate the entirely 19th-century north aisle: a two-light window to the left of the porch and a three-light window to the right, flanked by diagonal buttresses.

The porch is narrow and gable-ended. Its front has flanking buttresses, shaped kneelers, and coping. The outer two-centred arch has a moulded surround and inner moulding on flanking half-engaged columns. The moulded hood terminates in label stops carved as male and female heads. Above the arch, the gable contains a carved plaque bearing the crest of the Earls of Portsmouth with the date 1867. The north door is granite, possibly reused medieval work: a two-centred arch with moulded surround and sunken spandrels enriched with quatrefoils. It contains a 19th-century plank door with ornate strap hinges.

Interior

The interior is mainly the result of the 1867 renovation. All roofs are 19th-century ceiled wagon roofs. They are relatively plain, although the north aisle roof has carved bosses and the wall plate is enriched with carved openwork and painted heraldic devices under each truss. The wall plate of the nave roof rises over a timber shield-shaped plaque recording the restoration of 1867.

The tall plain flat-arched tower arch is probably 15th-century. The 19th-century chancel arch is of Beer stone with a moulded arch on half-engaged column responds with moulded capitals and bases. A contemporary Beer stone moulded arch dying into plain responds separates the aisle from the chapel. The three-bay Beer stone arcade between nave and aisle features piers with clustered shafts and Perpendicular-style moulded and carved capitals. The arch between the chancel and chapel is granite, probably reset 15th-century work. The responds are moulded (identified by Pevsner as A-type) with capitals to the shafts only.

Floors throughout are of 19th-century tiles laid in patterns. The chancel is plain, with a 19th-century oak altar rail on twisted iron supports with ivy leaf brackets, and contemporary Gothic stalls and pulpit. Benches include a series of 18th-century box pews in the nave. They are panelled and grained. The remainder are 19th-century; the north aisle includes a large enclosure, the family pew of the Earls of Portsmouth, which now houses a 20th-century organ.

The Font

The font is Norman but much restored in 1919. It is a purple mudstone cushion font. The basin is squared off on the sides, each containing a six-pointed star or lily motif in a sunken circle. The carving has been retooled. The shaft and plinth are new: the circular shaft has a neck ring carved with chevrons and a cable ring at the base, whilst the plinth is formed of scallops on a slope with the corners cut to exaggerated curves.

Monuments

The church contains outstanding monuments. Two 17th-century Chichester monuments, attributed by Katherine Esdaile to William Smith of Charing Cross, and an early 18th-century Fellowes monument are of particular distinction. All were originally placed together in a room north of the chancel where they were described by W. Spreat, but in 1867 they were re-erected in their present positions.

On the north wall of the chapel stands the monument to Edward, Lord Viscount Chichester (died 1648), and Dame Anne his wife (died 1616), erected by their son Arthur in 1648. The pair are represented as life-size recumbent figures, high-quality carvings in white marble. He, wearing his coronet, has sword and baldric; she is veiled. They lie on a shaped grey marble sarcophagus with moulded white base and black lid and plinth. It projects from an arched, almost round-headed recess resting on marble Corinthian columns and surmounted by the family arms. The back of the recess contains plaques flanked by heraldic achievements. The elegy reads: "Fam'd Arthur, Irelands dreade in armes and peace. Her tutular genius: Belfasts Honoure wonne. Edward and Anne, blest payre, begott increase of landes and heires: Viscount was grafted onn. Next Arthur, in Gods cause and kings stakt all, And Had to's Honour add'd Donnegall".

Arthur's own remarkable monument, erected in 1660, dominates the nave. The Viscount, carved in white marble, stands life-size in the centre, a cavalier in armour wearing a coronet. He is flanked by his two wives reclining on the top of an open pediment: the veiled Dorcas (died 1630) on the left and Lady Mary (died 1648) on the right with coronet and the stillborn baby who caused her death. The pilasters supporting the pediment are carved with arms and trophies of war. Below Mary is a charming sculpture of the group of children who died young, the eldest boy leaning on a sword with his arm around his sister. The whole composition is set in a round-headed recess supported on marble Ionic columns with heraldic cartouches above and surmounted by the family arms. The arch is enriched with heraldic badges and the soffit has arms and symbols of war carved on marble panels.

The east end of the chapel is completely occupied by the massive Italian marble monument in memory of William Fellowes (died 1723). Massive flanking full-height Corinthian columns carry a moulded entablature and segmental pediment containing the arms of the deceased in a cartouche. In the middle is a round-headed niche containing the incomplete memorial: a rectangular base with soffit-moulded lid bearing the inscription in poor Latin, and above it a sarcophagus-shaped block with the base for a missing vase. Four figures from the base are also missing. The whole is flanked by panelled marble and has three steps across the front.

Other monuments include a rectangular plaque high in the wall alongside to the right of the Edward Chichester monument, in memory of John Copleston (died 1606) and his wife Dorothy (died 1601). To the left of the tower arch is the marble mural memorial of Henry Arthur Fellowes (died 1792): a rectangular plaque in a frame with scroll wings, moulded cornice surmounted by a vase with drapery, the sill supported on scroll consoles and an apron featuring the arms of the deceased in a guilloche frame. To the right of the tower arch is the marble mural monument of Francis Fellowes (died 1819): a framed rectangular plaque with moulded cornice surmounted by a Latin cross, sill enriched with Vitruvian scrollwork and supported on scallop consoles and an apron of clustered leaves. On the north side of the aisle is a plain marble memorial in memory of Lady Uriaha Wallop (died 1844). The north door is flanked by similar Gothic-style marble memorials: the left to Newton, 4th Earl of Portsmouth (died 1854), and the right to his wife Catherine (died 1854).

Fittings and Glass

The nave contains some fragments of 16th-century armorial glass reset in the tracery. The Portsmouth pew is overlooked by a good stained glass window in memory of Isaac Newton (sic), 5th Earl of Portsmouth (died 1891), made by Kempe. Other 19th-century stained glass in the chancel is by Clayton and Bell. The nave has an ornate 19th-century brass chandelier and a cast iron tortoise stove.