Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

The Church of All Saints at Laxton stands as a substantially medieval structure substantially altered and restored in the 19th century. The main body of the church dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, with a chancel rebuilt in 1659, a north aisle added, and comprehensive restoration undertaken around 1865 to designs of Lord Carbery. The building is constructed of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and features lead and Collyweston slate roofs. It comprises an aisled nave, chancel, west tower with spire, and south porch.

The chancel's south elevation displays a 2-window range of 2-light windows, with the right window being a reset 14th-century example and the other a similar 19th-century replacement. A single-chamfered priest door separates the windows. A 2-stage angle buttress sits at the corner, with the gabled roof featuring Collyweston slates and ashlar gable parapets and finial. A 19th-century cast iron gutter with gargoyle adorns the right side. The east end features a 19th-century three-light window with roundel and mouchettes, flanked by 2-stage buttresses. A bulls-head carved above the window by Lord Carbery dates to the mid-19th century. The north elevation of the chancel mirrors the south with a 2-window range of 19th-century windows and evidence of refenestration between them. A 19th-century cast iron gutter with gargoyle to the left completes this side.

The south aisle extends 3 bays with a 2-window range. Nineteenth-century three-light windows occupy the centre and right positions, one displaying Perpendicular style tracery and the other Decorated style tracery. Two-stage buttresses sit between windows and at corners, with the centre buttress bearing a datestone inscribed 1659 on its return. The aisle has a lean-to roof with plain parapet, 19th-century two-light east and west windows, and a 19th-century chimney to the south-west corner. The gabled porch features a 19th-century double-chamfered outer doorway, with an inner doorway retaining one order of 12th-century shafts with capitals decorated with volutes. A 19th-century stepped and moulded arch rises over the doorway.

The north aisle mirrors the south with a 3-window range of 19th-century three-light windows, 2-stage buttresses between windows and at corners, and a lean-to roof with plain parapet. A 19th-century cast iron gargoyle stands to the left of centre. East and west windows comprise a 19th-century two-light window and a reset 14th-century two-light window with panel tracery respectively, with another 19th-century cast iron gargoyle to the left of the latter. Central gabled eared dormers with 2-light square-head windows crown the centre of each side of the nave roof, all beneath Collyweston slate.

The west tower rises in three unbuttressed stages from the late 13th century. Its lower stage contains a 2-light west window, while a slit window appears in the north face of the second stage. The upper stage features 2-light bell-chamber openings to each face with central shafts and cinquefoil circles above. A broach spire rises from a simple corbel table, set with two tiers of lucarnes.

The interior reveals a 3-bay nave arcade with double-chamfered arches, quatrefoil piers, and cluster shaft responds. The south arcade dates from the late 13th century whilst the north arcade is 19th-century work. A 19th-century stepped and chartered chancel arch with flat, chamfered responds leads to the chancel. A double chamfered tower arch with corbelled responds connects to the tower. Nineteenth-century roof structures span throughout. A reset trefoil head piscina stands to the right of the altar. A pulpit with large scroll supports in early 18th-century style was carved by Lord Carbery in the mid-19th century. An octagonal font dates to the 19th century.

Monuments within include a small wreathed wall plaque in the south aisle commemorating Thomas Phillips, died 1661, with a blank device above. Late 18th- and early 19th-century floor tablets to the Carbery family occupy the chancel, alongside a similar floor tablet to George Freke Evens, died 1829. A marble plaque to the north wall of the chancel commemorates William Charles Eighth Baron Carbery, died 1894, and explains his role in the church's restoration. A late 18th-century wall tablet adorns the north wall of the chancel. Several blank corbel blocks throughout the church suggest Lord Carbery, an amateur carver who provided designs for the mid- to late 19th-century works, may have intended to carve them himself.