Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A parish church dating from the late 13th and 14th centuries, located at Thorpe Malsor. The building was restored and extended in 1877, when the south porch and sacristy were added to designs by Clapton Rolfe. It is constructed of ironstone with limestone dressings, and roofed with stone slate, Welsh slate and slab.

The church comprises a 4-stage west tower with spire, a nave with clerestorey, north and south aisles, north and south porches, a sacristy, a Lady chapel and a chancel.

The west tower dates to the 13th and 14th centuries and features clasping buttresses, a moulded plinth and string courses, and a quatrefoil frieze. The west side has a restored moulded doorway with above it a 14th-century double lancet flanked by single cusped niches, both with hood moulds. The third stage has single lancets to north and south. The bell stage has on each side a double lancet opening with hood mould and a central mask stop. An octagonal broach spire rises above, with 2 tiers of gabled lucarnes containing single and double lancets. The spire is topped with a finial and wind vane.

The 3-bay nave has a clerestorey with moulded parapet and gable, featuring on each side 3 plain 14th-century lancets in flat-headed openings. The aisles have plinths, moulded string courses and sill bands, and coped parapets. The 3-bay north aisle has single 2-light Perpendicular windows with flat heads flanking the porch, the east window with dogtooth ornament and the west with ballflower, both having hood moulds. The west end has a single lancet.

The early 20th-century north porch has rubble side walls on plinths with unglazed arcaded wooden sides. It features a gabled common rafter roof with billeted transom and barge boards. The moulded inner doorway has a band of rosettes and a hood mould with mask stops.

The south aisle has at its east end a small buttress and a 19th-century flat-headed triple lancet. A 19th-century priest's vestry at the east end has a single lancet with hood mould. The west end has a flat-headed Perpendicular 2-light window.

The 1877 south porch and sacristy are executed in Early English style with a plinth, moulded string course, a dogtooth eaves band, and a coped gable with finials. The porch has a double chamfered doorway with mask corbels and hood moulds, and above it a small lancet. Its interior has a rib-vaulted ceiling with wall shafts and a roll-moulded inner doorway with double shafts. The sacristy's south side has 4 cusped lancets with hood moulds. The west end has a central roll-moulded doorway flanked by single niches, all with dogtooth ornament, triple shafts and impost bands. The north side has a double side-wall stack and a spout in the form of an eagle. The north-east corner features a square crenellated stair turret with gargoyles and dogtooth ornament, a pyramidal lead roof and a finial cross.

The Lady chapel is parapeted and gabled with 2 bays and a trefoil frieze. The north side has to the east an untraceried flat-headed triple lancet and to the west a restored Geometrical double lancet. The east end has a 14th-century triple lancet with intersecting tracery. All windows have hood moulds.

The 2-bay chancel dates to the 14th century and has a moulded eaves band with fleurons. The east end has angle buttresses, a string course and sill band, a coped gable with a cross, and a Decorated 4-light window with a hood mould and flash stops. The south side has to the left a double transomed Perpendicular triple lancet and to the east a plain double lancet with flat head, both with hood moulds.

Internally, the late 13th-century double chamfered tower arch has octagonal responds and contains an elaborate 19th-century organ case with stencilled decoration, flanked by groups of show pipes. The nave arcades, dating to the early and mid 14th centuries, comprise 3 bays with double chamfered arches with hood moulds, with stops to the north. The north arcade has quatrefoil piers with moulded bases and capitals, whilst the south arcade has octagonal piers. The clerestorey windows contain 19th-century stained glass. The nave roof is 19th-century with cambered tie beams with arch braces and traceried spandrels on mask corbels.

The north aisle contains late 19th-century stained glass in its west and north windows. To the left of the doorway is a small 16th-century aumbry, and to its right a restored 13th-century piscina. The east end has a double chamfered archway with mask imposts. The south aisle has 19th-century stained glass in its south and west windows. The south side has to the west 2 chamfered doorways to the sacristy. The east end has a roll-moulded 19th-century doorway with triple shafts to the priest's vestry, which contains a 19th-century stained glass window and a stone roof. Both aisles have restored roofs with wall shafts.

The Lady chapel has stained glass windows to the north and east dating to 1877, the east window flanked to the right by a 13th-century style foiled aumbry and piscina with hood mould. The south side has 2 double chamfered arches of 14th and 19th-century date separated by a pseudo-pier, that to the east with round responds and that to the west with imposts. The roof is 19th-century.

The chancel has a 14th-century double chamfered arch with octagonal responds. The east end contains a late 19th-century alabaster gradine and stained glass windows dating to circa 1860. The south side has to the east an Early English style piscina with shafts and renewed triple sedilia all under a continuous hood mould with stops. Two late 19th-century stained glass windows are present. The roof is 19th-century with arch braces, traceried spandrels and angel corbels.

The church's fittings include a 14th-century octagonal font with crocketed ogee arches on a clustered shaft stem, a semicircular 19th-century frescoed stone pulpit, and 19th-century oak altar, stalls and benches. Memorials comprise a marble and slate pedimented tablet of 1677, three 17th-century brasses, and a large painted stone Baroque-style pedimented war memorial of 1921.